Arizona residents who are admitted to a hospital usually expect expert medical care that will help them get well. However, an estimated 440,000 patients across the nation die each year due to medical mistakes made in hospital settings. In fact, hospital errors trail only heart disease and cancer in numbers as a cause of U.S.
Arizona motorists who are suspected of driving while intoxicated and refuse to submit to a toxicology test may lose their driving privileges for a period of time, but 13 states have laws that make such refusal a criminal offense as well.
Arizona is one of several states that mandate ignition interlock devices for first-time DUI convicted offenders. Maryland became the 26th state to make ignition interlock mandatory with the passage of Noah’s Law on April 11. Mothers Against Drunk Driving continues to campaign for all states to pass similar laws.
An Arizona man is facing a raft of charges after a wrong-way accident on the Loop 202 in Mesa caused traffic delays that lasted for hours and left another person injured. The state’s Department of Public Safety say that the 35-year-old man has been charged with criminal damage and endangerment as well as aggravated DUI.
Most hospitals and clinics in Arizona and other parts of the country use sophisticated electronic systems to monitor the medications administered to patients. Only heart disease and cancer result in more Americans dying each year than medical mistakes, and many believed that using computerized systems to track and monitor drug orders would reduce the burdens placed on busy doctors and nurses and eliminate many of the deadliest medication errors.
