Most people go to the hospital to get well, but sometimes the hospital can kill relatively healthy patients. In fact, 48,000 people died from pneumonia and blood-borne infections caught in U.S. hospitals in 2006, according to a study released today. The report is one of the first to put a price tag—a whopping $8.1 billion in 2006—on the issue, which is worsening each year. Some experts say that hospital-acquired diseases are adding to the rising cost of health care in the U.S. "In many cases, these conditions could have been avoided with better infection control in hospitals," said a researcher from a think tank that sponsored the study. More handwashing and screening patients for infectious disease when they check in would help.
Read it at MSNBC
