Palm Beach medical injury lawyer-Susan Ramsey-a Palm Beach medical injury attorney, patients are dying. Medical students with no sleep are causing patient injury and death.
At the request of the United States Congress http://www.house.gov/ and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) http://www.ahrq.gov/ The Institute of Medicine (IOM) http://www.iom.edu/, part of the National Academies of Science, has recommended more caps for the amount of time doctors, particularly medical residents (student doctors), can be on duty. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) http://www.acgme.org/, which oversees medical doctor residency programs, has required residents work a maximum of 80 hours a week, averaged over four weeks. Doctors are not allowed to work more than 30 hours straight. Medical residents consistently work more than 100 hours per week and more than 30 straight hours in a single shift.
December 3, 2008, West Palm Beach, FL (JusticeNewsFlash.com)-Aggressive injured patients rights attorney in West Palm Beach, Susan Ramsey, a medical injury attorney, agrees with the new recommendations by IOM. The IOM study focused on the grueling training of medical residents. A medical resident is defined as a medical school graduate who cares for patients under the supervision of a fully licensed physician. Medical experts are now suggesting medical residents working the maximum 30 hour shift be given a five hour rest period after the first 16 hours. Medical residents and doctors not getting the appropriate amount of sleep is being linked to medical errors causing patient injuries and possible deaths.
Concerned Palm Beach County medical injury attorney, Ramsey, with the medical malpractice law firm of Gary Roberts & Associates, urges all Americans be aware of doctors working with no sleep. Recommended guidelines by U.S. healthcare agencies are for the protection of our patients and doctors. Some of our findings are followed:
-Fatigue is one of the major contributors in medical doctor/resident error and puts patients and residents at risk
-Lack of resident supervision/scheduling by the attending medical doctor creates situations where residents are overworked and exhausted while treating patients
-A survey of 1 in 5, 1st year medical residents said lack of sleep caused them to injure a patient because they made medical decision mistakes
-A survey of 1 in 20, 1st year residents said lack of sleep caused them to kill a patient
-Sleepless medical residents make 36% more errors in intensive care units (ICU)
Assertive South Florida medical injury litigator and victims rights advocate, Ramsey, urges all Americans to participate in U.S. government health and law initiatives enacted on the national and local level. These recommendations may save lives and prevent patient injuries and deaths.
Media contact: Susan B. Ramsey a West Palm Beach medical malpractice attorney
(561)686-1800 [email protected]
675 Palm Beach Lakes
7th Floor
West Palm Beach, FL 33410
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