Daily Rounds: Hospital Errors Unreported; NEJM At 200; Breast Implant Fears; Regulating Face Transplants

Report finds most hospital errors go unreported (The New York Times) - "Hospital employees recognize and report only one out of seven errors, accidents and other events that harm Medicare patients while they are hospitalized, federal investigators say in a new report. Yet even after hospitals investigate preventable injuries and infections that have been reported, they rarely change their practices to prevent repetition of the “adverse events,” according to the study, from Daniel R. Levinson, inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services." (The New York Times)

New England Journal of Medicine turns 200 (Huffington Post) - "Into this medical dark age, two Boston doctors brought a beacon of light. They started what is now the New England Journal of Medicine with the idea that science should guide care – not whoever argued loudest or had the most persuasive theory. The first 100 copies in January 1812 were delivered by horseback. Today, 2 million people read the journal online every month. It is the oldest continuously publishing medical journal in the world, and it has touched lives in more ways than you may know." (HuffPo)

Fears grow over faulty French-made implants (NPR) - "A scandal involving French-made breast implants continues to widen. The implants contain industrial-grade silicone that causes abnormally high rupture rates, according to critics. They have been sold in many countries in Europe and beyond, though not in the United States. Now, the French government has opened a criminal investigation into the company. The probe could potentially lead to charges of involuntary homicide against the firm. PIP was shut down and its products banned in 2010." (NPR)

US may regulate hand, face, other complex transplants (LA Times) - "The U.S. government has proposed rules that could lead to the regulation of face and hand transplants, the Associated Press reported Thursday — possibly making the tissues more widely available to needy patients.The proposed rules, developed by the Department of Health and Human Services, would add vascularized composite allografts to the list of tissues delivered through the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which manages the organ donation waiting list and matches organs to recipients, among other tasks." (LA Times)