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Article: Preventable deaths caused by medical errors are much lower than reported.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
- Article from:
- Healthcare Strategic Management
- Article date:
- October 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 HCPro, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Hospitals investing in programs designed to reduce medical errors based on an Institute of Medicine study published a couple of years ago probably are working on a smaller problem than they thought they had when they started their programs. That is because most patients who die as a result of preventable medical errors were expected to die during or within three months of their hospitalization, and determining what is a preventable error is difficult for physicians who are trained to review medical records, according to "Estimating hospital deaths due to medical errors," by Rodney A. Hayward, M.D., and Timothy P. Hofer, M.D. In a study of 111 Veterans ...