Estimate of 98 000 deaths from medical errors is too low, says specialist

Reducing the number of deaths and injuries attributable to medical error can be achieved by creating a national centre to provide leadership and research, and by developing effective reporting mechanisms, Dr Janet Corrigan told a conference in Chicago, Illinois, earlier this month.

She said that it was also necessary to set safety standards through regulatory and market forces and to implement such standards in healthcare institutions.

Speaking at a two day meeting of the National Patient Safety Foundation, Dr Corrigan, an editor of a recent report from the Institute of Medicine in Washington which estimated that as many as 98 000 deaths a year were caused by medical error (BMJ 1999;319:1519), …