Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Analysis

Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US

BMJ 2016; 353 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i2139 (Published 03 May 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;353:i2139

Rapid Response:

Re: Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US

Technically, the title of this article should relate to medical injury, not medical error. Not all deaths resulting from medical care are errors. For example, if a patient dies due to bleeding from properly prescribed, and properly used medication, then it is not a medical error, but a medical injury. ie, medical error is a subset of medical injury related deaths.

Competing interests: No competing interests

08 March 2018
Ron Law
Risk & Policy Adviser
Auckland, New Zealand