Medical errors in hospital are responsible for the deaths of nearly 4500 children in the United States every year, says a study examining the effect of lapses in patient safety on children in hospitals throughout the nation (Pediatrics2004;113:1741-6).

“The bottom line is that none of these events should have happened,” said Dr Marlene R Miller, the study's lead author and director of quality and safety initiatives at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.

Children less than 1 year old and those covered by Medicaid, the government's insurance programme for poor people, were most likely to experience medical errors, Dr Miller and Dr Chunliu Zhan …