Hospitals have become particularly notorious for spreading lethal infections. But a recent report suggests these deadly bacteria may have an accomplice: “medical apathy” may be a secret plague in today’s healthcare system.

A report on Vox¹ reveals many hospitals are essentially ignoring rising rates of central line infections — which are often lethal — passing them off as “unavoidable medical risks.”

Millions of central line catheters are inserted each year. Because they run straight to the heart, central lines are the fastest, most effective method of delivering some medications, but they’re not without serious risks.

If bacteria manage to get into a central line, such as when a nurse changes a dressing or injects a medication, they can easily create a bloodstream infection. At best, these infections cause suffering for already-sick patients, and at worst they’re lethal.

The way many hospitals respond to their mistakes is as tragic as the mistakes themselves.

Hospitals tell victims’ families they’re not responsible for the sad but “inevitable complications” of these risky medical procedures. This might be a plausible explanation… except that a few hospitals have proven it false!

More Than 250,000 Central Line Infections Occur Every Year

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) are the most common cause of health care-associated infections of the bloodstream. A single incident of CLABSI can add $56,000 to your hospital tab — although you might not live long enough to see the bill.²

Between 12 and 25 percent of patients who acquire CLABSI never make it out of the hospital. Each year 250,000 central lines become infected, accounting for an estimated 62,000 hospital deaths in the US.

Hospitals Should Be Less Like the Auto Industry, More Like the Airline Industry

Vox draws a parallel between the medical industry and the auto industry, in terms of how they view their role in adverse events. This is an appropriate analogy as these central line infections kill TWICE as many people every year as car accidents in the US.

Auto companies don’t view car crashes as their own failure, but as the inevitable failure of drivers — they view crashes as an unavoidable risk, the cost of operating a motor vehicle. This is vastly different from how the airline industry views plane crashes.

When a plane crashes, the airline assumes something went wrong and endeavors to fix every plane that will ever fly again. What would happen if the medical industry adopted this approach to central line infections?

Some have! And their line infection rates have fallen dramatically, even dropped to zero. A few hospitals are regarding each and every line infection as their own personal failure that requires investigation and “repair.”