Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called Monday for closing a loophole in state law that prevents families from learning about medical errors at hospitals that lead to the deaths of their loved ones.
Blumenthal said at the state Capitol complex that the bill will lead to greater transparency and accountability over fatal mistakes by doctors.
“It will not bring back people who have perished,” Blumenthal said, who is seeking more audits and increased penalties for errors.
The bill, entitled “An Act Concerning Adverse Events at Hospitals and Outpatient Surgical Centers,” would force the state health department to release a report on hospital errors that Blumenthal says currently remain hidden from the general public. There is so much secrecy at hospitals, Blumenthal said, that the general public does not know “what are the safest hospitals” because there are no reliable, published measuring sticks to compare them to each other.
The bill also has a strong “whistle blower” provision because some hospital employees who know about fatal errors are afraid to report them for fear that they will lose their job, Blumenthal said.
“The current law is a deadly and disgraceful failure, shielding hospitals and surgical centers from scrutiny and accountability and leaving patients in the dark,” he said. “Medical mistakes causing death and serious illness may go unreported, undisclosed and uninvestigated, undermining patient protection. Gaping legal loopholes keeping most hospital medical errors secret — including more than 116 that resulted in death between 2004 and present — are unconscionable and unacceptable.”
Nationally, similar laws have been passed in five states: Massachusetts, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Indiana.
Speakers at the news conference described deaths of patients at Hartford Hospital, but Blumenthal said, “We’re not singling out any institution.”
Attorney Joel T. Faxon of New Haven described a recent decision against Hartford Hospital in a jury trial in state Superior Court in Hartford in the case of a woman who died at the hospital. The estate of Caroline Johnston, a 44-year-old East Hartford woman, was awarded $1.56 million in January after she died of cardiac arrest at Hartford Hospital in 2004.
“All she needed in that case was a small dose of potassium to stabilize her heart,” said Faxon, who handles medical malpractice cases.
Hartford Hospital declined to comment after the jury’s ruling.
Details from Monday’s hearing are at http://www.courant.com/health/hc-adverse-events-bill-opposition-0301,0,586678.story