FDA launches initiative to keep hospitals from killing so often

[BaliBabyDoc]

FDA website

As part of a wide-ranging effort to improve patient safety, on Feb. 25, 2004, FDA finalized a rule requiring bar codes on the labels of thousands of human drugs and biological products. The measure aims to protect patients from preventable medication errors by helping ensure that health professionals give patients the right drugs at the appropriate dosages.

FDA estimates that the rule will help prevent nearly 500,000 adverse events and transfusion errors while saving $93 billion in health costs over 20 years.

I don't doubt the 500K AEs granted I bet that's per annum not over two decades.

 

[lozina]

What took the FDA so long to come up with this? Damn bureaucrats...

 

[LadyJessica]

What took the FDA so long to come up with this? Damn bureaucrats...

You just answered your own question

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

I guarantee you hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies lobbied against such ideas in the past. Naturally, I'm talking about the corrupt/duplicitous arms of their respective professional associations. There are plenty of decent doctors out there . . . but the AMA sux.