The "do no harm" language associated with the Hippocratic Oath might these days come with one implied limitation, namely this: It does not apply to weekends.

That is the decided conclusion that emerges from a recent medical study appearing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. If reworded to capture the same meaning in colloquial terms, it might simply tell would-be Connecticut hospital patients and their peers across the country this: If possible, hold off on that appendectomy until Monday.

Researchers state that wrongful death rates, medical malpractice acts or omissions and adverse patient outcomes overall clock in at a significantly higher margin for patients who are admitted to a medical facility on the weekend -- especially on a Sunday.

Authors of the study -- which examined more than 14 million hospital admissions in England over a year-plus period -- note that the same result attaches for admissions in the United States. In reaching that conclusion, they point to strong consistency between their findings and those reached through the culling of data from more than 250 American hospitals.

What anomaly accounts for a 16 percent higher likelihood of dying for a patient admitted on a Sunday rather than a Wednesday?

The relevant factors at work are not wholly surprising. Many hospitals work at reduced staff levels on weekends. Patients' access to important diagnostic testing is often limited, as well. Additionally, too, many patients who have the sudden need to visit a medical facility on the weekend have a dire need to do so. In short, some of them are already in a near-fatal state.

In focusing particularly on previous studies addressing weekend admissions in the United States, researchers especially note an increased mortality rate for patients with heart-attack symptoms and kidney injuries.

Source: Medical Daily, "Patients are 'more likely to die' if hospitalized during weekends" Christine Hsu, Feb. 3, 2012