Hospitals - The 8th Leading Cause of Death

What You Need to Know to Get Out Alive...

Odds are high that at some point in your life, you'll need to go to the hospital.

You could be struck down by an illness or an injury — or perhaps just require some complicated elective surgery.

Whatever the case may be, a hospital visit should not be taken lightly. Why? See for yourself why you must avoid their hazards — if you want to get out alive.

Hospitals — the 8^th Leading Cause of Death

Russell Blaylock M.D.

Beyond the potentially life-threatening reasons you might enter the hospital, many new perils and pitfalls await you once you're admitted.

Here are just a few facts that hospitals don't want you to know:

FACT: Hospital complications and errors comprise the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S. (exceeding even motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer and AIDS)...

FACT: Hospital-acquired infections account for 100,000 American deaths each year...

FACT: Medical complications kill 30,000 more people a year (and cost us over $9.3 billion)...

FACT: Medication errors lead to 7,000 deaths annually...

Source:  NewsMax

Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals... Part 3

"The main value of transparency is not necessarily to enable easier consumer choice or to give a hospital a competitive edge. It is to provide creative tension within hospitals so that they hold themselves accountable. This accountability is what will drive doctors, nurses, and administrators to seek constant improvements in the quality and safety of patient care. So, even if we can't compare hospital to hospital on several types of surgical procedures, we can still commend hospitals that publish their results as a sign that they are serious about self-improvement.” ...Brian Klepper

Precautions to Consider…

DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND RESEARCH HOSPITAL OPTIONS

Take a little time to research the hospitals in your area, or hospitals that are part of your medical coverage, before you need to go to one.  Sometimes just talking to people in your neighborhood or people where you work that have the same coverage will give you a lot of insight.  And always get a second opinion before having voluntary surgery and sometimes even a third opinion is a good idea.

And before having surgery of any kind, educate yourself about your condition and know your options, including alternative medical care.

MAKE NURSES AND DOCTORS WASH THEIR HANDS

Washing your hands is one of the best (and easiest) ways to prevent the spread of germs. Still, not enough doctors and nurses wash their hands when going from one patient to the next. I know you might feel uncomfortably asking this, but it's wise to ask whoever is going to touch you to wash their hands before they do so - in front of you, if necessary.  Or make sure you watched them put on new gloves in front of you.

BE SURE YOU'RE GETTING A FRESH NEEDLE

Again, one would assume that every hospital would follow what's really Rule #1 when it comes to syringes: that needles get used once and only once. But sadly, this is something you can't always assume. I told you recently about a Nevada clinic that routinely reused needles, which led to a hepatitis outbreak. 50,000 patients were notified and had to be tested for the disease. Don't be afraid to ask the obvious question: has that needle been used? Ask that the doctor to unwrap a fresh syringe in front of you.

BE READY FOR SURGERY

This is the big one. When you're opening up your body, all kinds of unwanted things can get in. Before the surgery, you should ask your doctor if you should prepare your skin with daily disinfectant washes. You should also request a skin or nasal swab test for the MRSA super bug - and if that test is positive, be sure that you're treated with antibiotics before your procedure. Don't let a nurse shave you - any small nicks are merely open access for bacteria to enter the bloodstream; be sure your hair is only clipped back. Double check that the doctor has ordered IV antibiotics on the day of the surgery (shockingly, this step is often forgotten).  

Giving your own blood for voluntary surgeries or giving blood regularly in case of  involuntary surgeries is also a great precaution.

STAY WARM

It's true: keeping warm can actually fight infection. If you're getting a hospital procedure in the winter, be sure you're dressing in warm clothes before and after the surgery, and riding around in a well-heated car.  Also, ask for plenty of blankets while you're in the hospital waiting for surgery - if necessary, bring some of your own. Your life is more in your own hands than you realize when you enter those so-called safe havens called hospitals. Victoria Nahum has learned the hard way that passivity can kill. "People need to start participating instead of just being spectators when it comes to their medical care," she said. At the end of the day, you've got to remember this common sense warning: steer clear of the hospital unless absolutely necessary. Shedding some light on not-so-hospitable hospitals, William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

ALTERNATIVE HEALTHCARE OPTIONS:

There are many alternative healthcare options as well as preventative measures that I will cover in part 4 of this Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals series, including non-traditional alternative medical centers.  One that I can recommend from personal knowledge as well as reputation is  Sanoviv Medical Institute, which I will also cover in more detail in part 4.

"I invite you to experience the innovative medical diagnostics and therapies, detoxification, nutrition and serenity that Sanoviv offers -and to partner with us in helping you achieve true health." …Myron Wentz, Sanoviv Founder, Ph.D., Microbiology and Immunology

Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals... Part I

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.” …Mark Twain ;-)

(Although this is not 100% true, we are at least in part the authors to our own health or disease based on our choices.)

But, There's no place more deadly than a hospital...

This is a universal and unspoken truth in the health care community: hospitals can be lethal. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 99,000 people die every year from hospital-acquired infections; and not just the sick, the elderly, or the very young.

Case in point: 27-year-old Joshua Nahum was injured during a skydiving accident. Considering he voluntarily jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, Nahum was probably considered very lucky to have escaped the incident with only fractures to his skull and femur. And over six weeks in a Colorado intensive care unit, Nahum slowly improved. Doctors declared that with a complete course of rehab, Nahum would be fully recovered in just two years. Yet just two weeks after the doctors gave him the good news, Nahum was dead. A bacterial infection he developed while in the hospital had killed him. In the wake of this devastating (and, if you ask me, needless) tragedy, Victoria Nahum, Josh's stepmother, founded the Safe Care Campaign, the goal of which is to stop health-care- and community-acquired infections.

According to the Safe Care Campaign's Web site, the organization seeks to "instigate a crucial culture change within the American health care environment with regard to comprehensive infection prevention and hand-hygiene compliance practices." It's shocking, but true - one of the biggest and most dangerous myths around is the sterility of hospitals. The places are awash in all manner of germs that can be devastating to people whose immune systems are compromised because they are recovering from illnesses or surgeries. Contrary to their squeaky-clean image, hospitals are far from sterile places. In fact, they're among the most hazardous with regard to infections. Remember, hospitals are where all the sick people are, which means they're where all the GERMS are.

But what's even more disturbing than this is the fact that hospitals can expose you to different germs than what you'd come into contact with in the outside world. Because bacteria can mutate so quickly, those that linger in hospitals can develop into distinct variants that can have a strong resistance to antibiotics. That makes them much more lethal than the garden-variety microbes you're exposed to every day out in the world.

Thanks to people like the Nahums and other concerned patient advocate groups, the word is getting out about the potential dangers that lie within hospitals. In addition to the Safe Care Campaign, there's also the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (CRID), which was begun by former lieutenant governor of New York, Betsy McCaughey. "You don't often come across such a big problem that you can prevent," McCaughey said.

These groups have a steep hill to climb. In addition to noncompliance to hygiene standards by hospital staffs and the bacteriological soup that's contained in hospitals, the dangers are not going away. So the Safe Care Campaign and the CRID have come up with a list of advice that patients can follow to help protect themselves when they head to the hospital.

Part II Continued Tomorrow....