Two years ago, Consumers Union launched a national campaign to stop hospital infections -- and we've seen remarkable success in a relatively short time!
But most hospitals oppose these proposals -- and do all they can to defeat them. And, in the first state to issue a public report, we learned that many hospitals failed to properly report their infections as required!
You can help stop hospital infections by demanding information about your local hospital's infection rates and prevention practices.
Your local hospital must answer to you -- the local community. With direct local pressure from you, hospitals will no longer be able to hide their problems behind a smoke screen of excuses.
Two million Americans contract a hospital-acquired infection every year - one in 20 patients - and 90,000 of them die. Many of these infections are now resistant to antibiotic treatment and spreading into the community from their origins in hospital settings.
Even though infection rates are on the rise, hospitals keep them secret. Hospital infections are often deadly but largely preventable. For example, hand cleaning is the first line of defense, yet doctors and nurses wash their hands far less than they should, particularly in critical areas like intensive care, surgery, anesthesia and the emergency room.
Making infection rates public will help you find out about the safety record of your local hospital and will give hospitals a strong incentive to devote more attention to this costly and dangerous problem.
You can help by signing a simple petition, which we will deliver along with a more detailed Consumers Union letter, to your local hospitals. In cities with a large number of petitioners, we will also run our petition as an ad in a local paper for higher visibility. Your message to your local hospital will encourage greater cooperation with lawmakers and agencies trying to implement strong reporting laws.
We hope that more than 100,000 people will sign so we can
deliver a serious message to hospitals across the nation. We launched this campaign just last month, and we are already a quarter of the way to our goal!
After you have taken action, please forward this on to your friends and family and ask them to join you in saving lives.
https://cu.convio.net/site/PixelServ...5dv6e9UV2G3w.. Sincerely,
Lisa McGiffert
StopHospitalInfections.org
a project of Consumers Union
1300 Guadalupe, Suite 100
Austin, Texas 78701