How Important are Medical Errors?

Dec. 12, 2002 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers who surveyed physicians and members of the public about the incidence of medical errors say they found some surprising results.

While significant numbers of both groups report experiencing a medical error in their own care or a family member's care, neither group reports feeling any urgency to do much about the situation.

Medical errors were brought to the forefront of discussion several years ago by the Institute of Medicine report, To Err is Human. Since then, government and other groups have come up with an array of solutions aimed at fixing the problem. In this study, Harvard investigators polled about 830 practicing physicians and 1,200 members of the public to gauge their level of support for proposed changes.

Thirty-five percent of doctors and 42 percent of the public said they or a family member had been the victim of a medical error, and 18 percent of the physicians and 24 percent of the public reported the error led to serious medical consequences, including death.

However, few reported malpractice suits were brought after the error was discovered, and a majority of both groups said they believe the number of preventable deaths due to errors is probably lower than that being reported in the media. Neither group shares the sense of urgency to correct the situation currently being expressed by government and other national health groups. Costs of care and malpractice insurance remain greater concerns.

In an accompanying editorial, Thomas H. Lee, M.D., from Partners Healthcare System in Boston, suggests a broader concept of medical errors may be needed to help physicians and patients think about safety as a part of an integrated approach to improving the health care system as a whole. He calls for better collaboration on the part of all concerned.

According to the IOM report, as many as 98,000 people die each year from medical errors.