Washington Advocates for Patient Safety

About Washington Advocates for Patient Safety

The mission of WAPS is to promote transparency, accountability, quality, safety, and responsibility in patient care in order to eliminate preventable medical errors. According to a recent study published in the “Journal of Patient Safety” by Dr. John James, preventable medical errors now kill over 440,000 Americans every year. This is an unbelievable 1205 people everyday or 50 people per hour! According to the American Medical News journal, one in three people who go to a hospital today will experience a preventable medical error. Sources such as Scientific American state that preventable medical error is now the third leading cause of death in the US. This situation is not acceptable! We can do better. There are well documented examples of hospitals that have greatly reduced their preventable medical errors. We need to push other hospitals to follow these examples. In addition, state medical boards need to stop forgiving the very few doctors that cause most of the harm. Court records show that about 6 percent of doctors are responsible for nearly 60% of all malpractice payments, yet state medical boards are not removing these incompetent doctors. WAPS is bringing changes by educating the public and legislators on patient rights, patient safety, and healthcare transparency to save more lives.