Patients must be educated on rights to fight medical malpractice – Advocate

Executive Secretary for the Advocacy for Medical Malpractice Victims, Lawyer Kwame Appiah, has called for intensive educational campaigns on the rights and responsibilities of patients.

According to him, most patients are unable to file complaints or talk about the poor treatment they receive at the hands of medical personnel when they visit the hospital.

“Most people cannot come out and talk about the poor treatment and injuries they suffer at the hands of medical personnel because of our worldview and religion in Ghana. When someone visits the hospital and suffers a disability, they refuse to hold the medical staff accountable,” he told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.

He revealed silence from patients who have suffered medical malpractice in the past has kept others silent over similar issues out of fear.

“Before we started our advocacy group, most people didn’t know you could seek redress from a hospital after you were treated unfairly. I think education is what we need to empower patients with so they know their rights and responsibility.”

In terms of the prevalence of medical malpractice, Lawyer Kwame Appiah indicated “it is quite high in terms of the work we do and the experiences we’ve gathered over the period. But statistically, I am not sure anyone has done any research on this.”

Lawyer Kwame Appiah citing global statistics revealed at least 5 persons die every minute with 4 out of 10 patients suffering an injury due to medical malpractice worldwide.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said, “We need a patient safety culture that promotes partnership with patients, encourages reporting and learning from errors, and creates a blame-free environment where health workers are empowered and trained to reduce errors.”

Four out of every ten patients are harmed during primary and ambulatory health care. The most detrimental errors are related to diagnosis, prescription and the use of medicines. Medication errors alone cost an estimated US$ 42 billion annually. Unsafe surgical care procedures cause complications in up to 25% of patients resulting in 1 million deaths during or immediately after surgery annually.

Patient harm in health care is unacceptable. WHO is calling for urgent action by countries and partners around the world to reduce patient harm in healthcare. Patient safety and quality of care are essential for delivering effective health services and achieving universal health coverage.