Deaths From Hospital Infections

Hospital Acquired Infections

In an email from Consumers Union, I was amazed to learn:

"More than 30,000 Americans die every year from bloodstream infections they get from catheters while in the hospital. And just this week, federal researchers reported that rate is rising. But a leading Johns Hopkins doctor has developed a simple checklist that when used, could cut these types of infections by two-thirds. Some hospitals have even eliminated these kinds of infections for periods of time using the checklist."

"If all hospitals followed this checklist, we could save tens of thousands of lives each year and billions of dollars. It works. It's voluntary. Yet most hospitals don’t do it, because they haven’t been pressured to implement it."

Why would not all hospitals insist on this protocol? Why do patients have to petition their hospitals to follow the protocol?