People Against Medical Malpractice (PAMM) supports the “Patients’ Bill of Rights,” the public’s “Right To Know,” and the National MEDiC Act.

Contact: Jim and Joan Clarke, 610-421-8300, Factfinders27@aol.com

BALTIMORE, Sept. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Patients’ Bill of Rights provides the patient with the right to have access to appropriate high-quality health care, the right to know all their treatment options and to participate in decisions about their care, the right to review and copy their own medical records and request the physician amend their record if it is not accurate, relevant, or complete. Finally, the patient has the right to a fair, fast and objective review of any complaint they have against the healthcare provider.

However, the Patients’ Bill of Rights does not provide for the unsafe conditions in hospitals caused by the preventable medical negligence which kills 195,000 people annually and maims and catastrophically disables countless hundreds of thousands more. “Wrongful deaths” from preventable medical negligence kills patients at the rate of 23 per hour, while the homicide rate in this country is only 2 people per hour.

People have the right to:

• Know whether doctors and hospitals have a history of causing catastrophic harm,
  
  
• Legal representation free from sabotage due to lawyer pay-offs from hospitals,
  
  
• A full investigation by their State Attorney General into the violations of state criminal and civil laws by any healthcare provider,
  
  
• Know that doctors and hospitals that violate federal and state laws will be subject to legal action against them by federal and state prosecutors,
  
  
• Know if a healthcare provider alters or destroys their medical records,
  
  
• Know the identity and medical specialty of each attending physician,
  
  
• Know the infectious disease rate in any hospital that they go to for treatment,
  
  
• Know about the “Patient Blacklist” doctors maintain on people who try to recover damages from devastating injuries incurred at the hands of doctors and hospitals,
  
  
• Know that the medical delivery system (hospitals and doctors) has morphed into a system that is no longer on their side,
  
  
• Know that most doctors routinely assist negligent doctors to cover-up the harm done to people in hospitals,
  
  
• Know that state and federal agencies often will not help them investigate and prosecute these criminal activities.

People must now demand that doctors and hospitals be subject to the same laws as everyone else i.e. when they cause egregious harm, punishment must apply to them as it would to anyone else.

People Against Medical Malpractice (PAMM) supports the National MEDiC Act which is designed to establish a National Medical Error Disclosure and Compensation (MEDiC) Program. The goal of the MEDiC Program is to: (1) improve the quality of health care by encouraging open communication between patients and health care providers about medical errors and other patient safety events; (2) reduce the rates of preventable medical errors; and (3) ensure patients have access to fair compensation for medical injury due to medical error, negligence, or malpractice.

People Against Medical Malpractice (PAMM) is organizing a patient safety demonstration in front of Johns Hopkins Hospital, located at 600 North Wolfe Street in Baltimore, Maryland, to sound the alarm to the ever-growing danger that exists in our American hospitals. On Wednesday, October 4, 2006 (rain date October 11th) there will be a press conference at 11:30am and the demonstration will follow immediately.

Press Conference and Demonstration Details ---

When: Wednesday, October 4, 2006, 11:30 AM

Where:  Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore

This demonstration is a “Call to Arms” for the public to speak out with their signs, pictures and voices and to demand safer hospitals, accountability from doctors and hospitals, and justice from the Courts!