The Big Picture: Effects of Lack of Reliable Quality Control in Hospitals In Search for the Black Box for a reliable and cost effective quality control of care - 2/2006 by Gil N. Mileikowsky, M.D.  Read Article Powerpoint presentation of Dr. Mileikowsky  view presentation Powerpoint presentation of Dr. Bard  view presentation WHO ranking of countries' health care performance  view rankings The Economic Impact of Lack of Quality Controls. Medical errors translate into $750 billion to $1.75 trillion wiped out of the US economy - article originally from fastcures.org and diagram modified from "In Search of the Black Box" by Dr. Mileikowsky (see item #1 above) Download PDF File Organizations "supposed" to monitor hospital's quality of delivery of care Download PDF File Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and Subsidiaries (JCAHO) History and Financial Statements Across USA, anxiety over access to patient records USA Today 4/29/2008, by Robert Davis Read Article GAO Report (July 2004) - CMS Needs Additional Authority to Adequately Oversee Patient Safety in Hospitals The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) regularly missed serious problems and put patients at risk, according to this GAO study. Download PDF File Deadly errors and politics betray a hospital's promise LA Times Pulitzer Prize Winning Series on King/Drew County Hospital - December 5, 2004 Read LA Times Series Read LA Jewish Journal Article Justice Department Recovers Record $3.1 Billion in Fraud and False Claims in Fiscal Year 2006 Read DOJ Press Release Patient Safety in American Hospitals July 2004 HealthGrades Study documents evidence that nearly 600,000 patients die of medical errors in hospitals every three years. Download PDF File Medical Errors Still Claiming Many Lives - USA Today 5/18/2005 Article quotes Harvards Lucian Leape as saying, “We have to turn the heat up on the hospitals." Summarizes 5/18/05 JAMA article by Professor Leape. Read USA Today and JAMA Articles See Why Pay for Mistakes - Boston Globe - 8/23/2007 Many docs have kept quiet on errors, incompetence: study from Modern Physician Online - Story posted: December 3, 2007 Read Article OVERTREATED: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer selected by New York Times Business Columnist, David Leonhardt as the No 1 Book of the Year. Read More The First National Report Card on Quality of Health Care in America. 2006 Rand Corporation report finding that all adults in the United States are at risk for receiving poor health care, no matter where they live; why, where, and from whom they seek care; or what their race, gender, or financial status is. Read Document Internal Bleeding The Truth Behind America's Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes by Robert Wachter, M.D. and Kaveh G. Shojania, M.D. Read More Nutrition Institute of America Study concludes 784,000 people die annually due to medical mistakes. Study is based on 152 published peer review articles. Read Abstract View Summary Tables Read Full Study Critical Condition: How Health Care in American Became Big Business and Bad Medicine, by Donald L. Bartlett & James B. Steele, excerpts regarding number of deaths caused by medical error, between 225,000 and 257,000 per year. Download PDF File Who Killed Health Care?: America's $2 Trillion Medical Problem-and the Consumer-Driven Cure by Regina Herzlinger, Professor, Harvard Business School Read More Letters to elected officials urging Congress to extend "whistleblower" protection to all physicians Read More Fatal Medical Errors Said to Be More Widespread By Paul Davies, The Wall Street Journal - Jul 27, 2004 Read Abstract How to Keep the Hospital From Making You Sicker Wall Street Journal 9/11/2003 Download PDF File "Unhealthy Diagnosis" - Exposes Unnecessary Heart Surgeries at Tenet Facility in Redding, CA CBSNews.com Article #1 and Article #2 JCAHO Patients' Safety Standards - Transcript of Presentation by JCAHO President, Dennis O'Leary, MD, concludes that there is no incentive for CEOs to achieve higher quality of care as it would reduce revenues for hospitals - 11/24/2002 Download Transcript in PDF Format Rape of the Medical Peer Review Process by TENET Health System by Gil N. Mileikowsky, M.D. 11/24/2002 Download Transcript in PDF Format Transcript of Quarterly Meeting of Medical Board of California - 11/9/2002 Download Transcript in PDF Format "Clinical Peer Review or Competitive Hatchet Job." Examines how Peer-Review is used as a tool to eliminate economic competitors. by William W. Parmley, M.D., M.A.C.C. Journal of the American College of Cardiology Vol. 36, No. 7, 2000. Download Article in PDF Format HB 2371 - Patient safety bill passed Pennsylvania State House but died in Senate Download Article in PDF Format