A study conducted by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services recently released new findings reporting that hospital employees don't report more incidents of error than they do report; and this is not because less incidents of error actually exist to be reported. In fact, it is said that only one in seven cases of hospital mistakes, medical errors, and general harm to patients is recognized and documented by attending hospital staff. Perhaps even more disturbing is the finding that those injuries and infections which are reported and subsequently investigated often result in little if any change to the health care system. The adverse effects of hospital neglect and error have been identified under investigatory means, but nothing has been done to actually rectify the situations at hand.

Lab testing errors, surgical missteps, misdiagnoses, and the like are all forms of medical malpractice which need to be addressed and attended to by the health care system. However, failure of the medical field to take reported error findings and work to rectify them could be seen as its own form of medical malpractice. Hospitals are required under Medicare practices to track the adverse health conditions of their patients as they relate to the hospital's diagnostics and standards of treatment. However, when these document reports are created and then left to sit they do little to affect positive change within the system. In fact, it could be argued that they do no more good than those incidents which remain unreported entirely. Clearly, there are more ways to wrongly practice medicine than just those typically affiliated with health care practices(i.e. misdiagnoses, prescription errors, wrong treatment paths, etc.). Two of the main offenses within the claims of medical malpractice might also be the failure to report and the failure to take action.

It is often easy to identify a doctor's misdiagnosis or a pharmacy's prescription error as ones of medical malpractice. However, it can be much less easy to make this type of claim when hospitals and other medical facilities fail to report the true nature of what is taking place within their practice. But can it be denied that these too are not instances of malpractice within the medical field? If anything, this type of behavior would almost seem to be one of a more serious offense. Medication errors, infections, overuse of painkillers, and improper use of medical technologies are cases of medical malpractice in and of themselves. When these incidents go unrecognized, underreported, or dismissed altogether the offense is no less insulting and no less a case of medical malpractice.

Unlike the landmark tests conducted and issued in 1999 by the National Academy of Sciences which stated the main reason for underreporting of medical errors being employee fear of repercussion, the Department of Health and Human Services report issued different findings. Now, the biggest issue seems not to be fear, but false assumptions and misunderstandings. Hospital employees that fail to report medical accidents tend not do so based on the presumption that others will take care of the reports instead. In other cases, their failure to report is reflective of a similar failure to recognize the problem. In either scenario, the problem is of great concern and more than 130,000 Medicare beneficiaries are suffering each month as a direct result.

Medical malpractice is a legal issue that has not gone unnoticed by government officials and industry leaders in the medical field. However, it is one that may not be receiving the full attention it deserves. While the Obama administration has teamed with hospital officials to create incentives for the reduction of medical errors within hospitals, its attention and commitment to the issue has not been met with similar gusto by practicing hospital staff. Not only has it been found that hospital employees are not meeting the standards set forth for them, it has also been determined that nothing is being done to rectify this situation. Identifying the problem is only the first step; the next needs to be ensuring that appropriate actions are taken to put an end to the malpractice behaviors. In some instances, hospital executives have reported that the federal investigations and findings did not reveal any truly systematic or quality problems, thereby exempting themselves from the responsibility of taking action.

Findings such as these make reports from the Department of Health and Human Services even more unsettling. Of the 293 cases of patient harm that the federal investigators reviewed, only 40 were reported to hospital managers; and only 28 of those 40 cases were further investigated by the hospital(s) under investigation. Furthermore, changes in policy and/or practice were seen in no more than five of these cases. It would seem that the challenges presented to the nation's Medicare and hospital systems are more than just a call to action. Federal reports and government actions have proven the significance of the problem; however, they have failed to rectify it. If anything, these reports have effectively shed light on the fact that medical malpractice does not begin and end with the actual practice of medicine. As is evidenced by the reports issued by federal investigators, medical malpractice behaviors have infiltrated the entire reporting system. From the failure to document problems to the failure to take appropriate reaction regarding the matters at hand, the problem of medical malpractice is deep.