"It's estimated that up to 98,000 people each year die from medical errors made in hospitals," Rachael says in shock. "That's nearly 2,000 deaths a week!" She turns to Dr. Jan Garavaglia, of the Discovery Health Channel show Dr. G Medical Examiner, to find out what you can do to protect yourself if you end up in the hospital. "You have to be your own advocate," she says. "You have to take a partnership in your health care." She's sharing the steps you can take to try and avoid the most common complications and make sure your hospital stay is a safe one!

Preventing health-care related infections. Dr. G says 1.7 million health-care related infections occur each year. "They can cause urinary tract infections, it can get into your blood, they can cause pneumonia, those types of infections," she explains. "What do they say to prevent it? Hand washing ... that's got to be 100 percent. You don't let anybody touch you in the hospital that you haven't seen wash their hands ... they know they're supposed to do that but there's nothing wrong with a little gentle reminder." And even if they're wearing gloves, they should wash their hands before they put on the gloves.

Be honest with your doctors about your alcohol use. Dr. G says it's vital that your health care providers are aware of your alcohol use, but people are often embarrassed and may want to fudge the details when asked. "They'll say, 'I had a drink' or 'I only drink once every few days' when they're actually drinking every day and they're dependent on it," she explains, noting this can be dangerous after a surgery. “You're not having alcohol anymore and all of a sudden you can start having seizures from withdrawal of alcohol and you can go into shock just from not having alcohol. So if you don't tell them they don't know to watch for it. They'll actually give you a medication to counteract that."

Pre-surgery precaution. If an area of your body is shaved before the surgery, Dr. G has a warning. "These razors cause little nicks and it actually increases the [chance of] surgical site infections. They should be clipped with clippers and they're even looking into not clipping the hairs with some surgeries," Dr. G says, suggesting you ask the doctor if they will be shaving you and inquire about an alternative such as clippers.

Post-surgery pneumonia prevention. "Pneumonia basically is going to be an infection of your lungs," Dr. G says, explaining it's important to get moving as soon as your doctor recommends it, to help your lungs expand and lessen the chance of infection. You may also be given a breathing device to aid in this recovery.

Catheter safety. "They are one of the leading causes of infection in the hospital. Every day you have it in you have a 5 to 10 percent chance of getting an infection," she explains. "What's the empowerment here? One thing: tell your doctor, 'Do I really need this?' Now one of the things they've shown that truly can decrease infection is getting it out faster. They show that nurses that bug the doctor asking, 'Can we get this out yet?' - they'll get it out a little quicker. There's no reason the patient can't do that in a nice way." Also, the catheter is attached to a bag and Dr. G. says the bag must always be placed below the catheter to prevent bacteria from moving back into your system.

Blood clot prevention. "Anybody at bed rest is at risk for developing deep vein thrombosis, and it's much more prevalent than they realize: 100,000 people die each year from probably preventable pulmonary embolism blood clots. You stay in bed just a couple days there's a very good chance 10 to 15 percent will get blood clots. You're in the ICU? One third of ICU patients get blood clots," she says. What can you do to try and avoid this? Dr. G says patients are given blood-thinning medication when possible, it's also important to get moving as soon as you can, and if you are on bed rest make sure squeezers are placed on your calves to contract your muscles and squeeze your veins. "It could save your life!"