Van Vollenhoven 'Hospitals go limp to safety risks'

- In our country a slack attitude prevails when it comes to recognition of security risks, says Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven. Unhappy Monday received the book from a headhunter Liesbeth Mekkering who, after a medical mistake had to fight for years for compensation. 'What I want to put the issue on the agenda!' He says.

According to Van Vollenhoven enable organizations like hospitals limp on, for fear of criticism. 'They do not dare to discuss good criticism, because they are afraid that it reaches justice in answering the question of guilt. And that is true not only in the medical world, what this book is, 'said co-founder and chairman of the Victim Support Fund, which some hundred thousand people annually leads the way after the often traumatic experiences that they have not asked for.

Insufficient down what exactly happened and why, Van Vollenhoven. Mekkering experienced that firsthand. In her book 'Back in the Saddle 'she talks about how she was paralyzed by a series of medical errors after a fall from her horse. Then they had to prove themselves that errors were made by physicians. 'That's from the crazy,' she says.

Mekkering fell in the spring of 2008 during a match of her horse. The injury did not seem too serious, but she had to undergo surgery because of complications and she was prescribed blood thinners. Two weeks later, she signed up back in the hospital, this time with pain in her back and neck. Mekkering also fell occasionally by her legs. 'The doctor thought the bleeding, but did nothing with it. For example, while my bladder went out in the hospital, a sign of paralysis. I still found to have bleeding in my back, 'Mekkering explains. After two nights in the hospital, she was paralyzed awake. Surgery followed, then the diagnosis was: Incomplete high paraplegia C4.

'My husband was deceased before a year and when I lost my body. It was double mourning, 'says Mekkering who nevertheless plunged wholeheartedly into her rehabilitation. With success, because she can now walk again with crutches.

On the contrary to the insurer and the slow pace of progress- Mekkering leaves unanswered what- they can still excite. 'An independent doctor did 17 months to answer twelve questions. I like to have a time frame comes to things like this. Such a report should be just after three months. And the insurer did everything to delay things. I want to dedicate myself to in order to reduce such processes. '\n  \n  \n   advertisement

Six years did it take Mekkering could finally reach a settlement. And this was still too skinny, she thought. Yet they took the amount of the insurer, especially to get rest. 'There really fell off a load of me. My kids say it: Mom, you radiate again. '

According to Van Vollenhoven insurers should be clearer in what is expected of them can be. 'There is not enough clear about that! It is not acceptable that suddenly is paid much less than expected. Also, we should be critical. '