report condemned the current fragmented system of handling medical mistakes ... peer review, regulation, malpractice lawsuits, private evaluations

BMJ. 1999 December 11; 319(7224): 1519. | Copyright © 1999, British Medical Journal | Medical errors kill almost 100000 Americans a year | Fred Charatan | Florida

An expert panel from the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, found that medical errors kill from 44000 to 98000 Americans each year.

The chairman of the 19 member panel, William C Robinson, president of the W K Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan, a private, grant making body, said, “These stunningly high rates of medical errors—resulting in deaths, permanent disability, and unnecessary suffering—are simply unacceptable in a medical system that promises first to ‘do no harm.’”

The panel's report, which was released in November, recommended that a new federal centre for patient safety should be set up in the Public Health Service and should have a budget of about $100m (£63m) a year, which is equivalent to just over 1%of the $8.8bn a year in costs estimated to be attributable to preventable medical injuries.

Healthcare providers would be required to inform state governments of any medical errors leading to serious harm; currently only 20 states have such reporting requirements. Doctors and nurses would also be re-examined periodically by state licensing boards to evaluate their competence and their knowledge of safety practices.

The report condemned the current fragmented system of handling medical mistakes, which relies on a combination of peer review, federal and state regulation, malpractice lawsuits, and evaluations by private accreditation bodies. ...