Citations to IOM report


1999 Citations to the Institute of Medicine Report These are "leads" only - Contact publishers for full text.	http://md-jd.info http://md-jd.info/errors.htm

Other Years - Headlines: 1999.2000.2001.2002.2003
Other Years - Leads: 1999.2000.2001.2002.2003 (These are large files)

Newhouse News Service
December 30, 1999 Thursday
Stem Cell Research Tops 1999 Medical Advances
The stage for the major advance in medical research this year was set in late 1998, when scientists announced they had isolated human embryonic stem cells for the first time.
Because of that landmark achievement, researchers this year published more than a dozen papers exploring the potential of these progenitor cells.
Most cells have a specific function skin, for example, or brain but stem cells are immature cells that can give rise to just about any cell in the human body.
Lead stem-cell researchers James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin and John Gearhart at Johns Hopkins University pointed out potential applications for stem cells, such as growing nerve cells to repair spinal injuries; growing brain cells to control Parkinson's disease; growing heart muscle cells to replace scar tissue after a heart attack; growing bone marrow to replace blood-forming organs damaged by radiation; and genetically altering blood cells to resist specific diseases or intruders, such as HIV.

The Oregonian
DECEMBER 29, 1999 Wednesday SUNRISE EDITION
STEM CELL RESEARCH TOPS LIST OF 1999 MEDICAL ADVANCES
Summary: Besides exploring embryonic cells' vast potential in treatments, scientists make strides in other areas of care
The stage for the major advance in medical research this year was set in late 1998, when scientists announced that they had isolated human embryonic stem cells for the first time.
Because of that landmark achievement, researchers this year published more than a dozen papers exploring the potential of these progenitor cells.
Most cells have a specific function -- skin and brain, for example -- but stem cells are immature cells that can give rise to just about any cell in the human body.
Lead stem-cell researchers James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin and John Gearhart at Johns Hopkins University pointed out potential applications for stem cells, such as growing nerve cells to repair spinal injuries; growing brain cells to control Parkinson's disease; growing heart muscle cells to replace scar tissue after a heart attack; growing bone marrow to replace blood-forming organs damaged by radiation; and genetically altering blood cells to resist specific diseases or intruders, such as HIV.
Rather than talking about making whole organs, the researchers expect to repair organs using replacement cells that would offer lifelong treatment.

The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
December 29, 1999, WEDNESDAY; ALL EDITIONS
TOWARD SAFER HOSPITALS ;
TENS OF THOUSANDS DIEFROM MEDICAL MISTAKES
FOR the second time in less than a month, a major study has found
that hospital mistakes are killing many Americans every year.
What's more, both reports found that the errors were often easily
preventable, such as performing surgery on the wrong limb, improper
insertion of breathing or feeding tubes, and administering the wrong
drug.
Although the most recent study applies only to Veterans
Administration hospitals, the study's authors make it clear that the
VA's incidence of errors, or"adverse events,"was not greater than at
private hospitals, and that the rate was far too high. In fact, the
VA's study is likely the first comprehensive self-examination by any
health-care system in America. Most health organizations have addressed
such problems in secret, if they address them at all.
COUNTRY: UNITED STATES (86%); AMERICA (70%);

DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
December 28, 1999, Tuesday
DRUG HAZE
PROLIFERATION OF MEDICATIONS ADDS TO RISE IN HOSPITAL DEATHS
Mistakes and incompetence kill as many as 100,000 Americans a year in the one place they should feel safe.
The hospital.
According to a report issued late last month by the highly respected Institute of Medicine, medical mistakes result in the deaths of 44,000 to 98,000 hospitalized Americans a year, principally through ''systems errors'' that result in flawed administration of medication.
Although virtually everyone in Colorado's medical and hospital communities is dismayed by the report, perhaps the biggest surprise is that few claim to have been surprised.
''It didn't surprise me; it was more disheartening and saddening than anything else,'' says Susan Miller, director of the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners, which regulates the practice of medicine in the state.

The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.)
December 28, 1999, Tuesday
MEDICAL MISTAKES
Reform should be bottom-up
Medicine, like the military, has an inordinate fondness for euphemisms. An artillery fire mission becomes "servicing the target." A patient's death on the operating table becomes an "adverse outcome." Either way, the people on the other end are just as dead.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
December 28, 1999, Tuesday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION
Correction Appended

MEDICAL MISTAKES
HEALTH CARE
INVARIABLY, reports out of Washington about a pressing national matter are met with an initial wave of outrage and earnest concern. But after the posturing and pronouncements, politicians and others usually turn away from the issue with little having been done. Fortunately, that has not been the response to last month's report by the Institute of Health, part of the National Academy of Sciences. The institute reported that medical errors kill tens of thousands of people each year, more than highway accid ents, breast cancer or AIDS.
CORRECTION-DATE: January 4, 2000
CORRECTION:
The following editorial should identify the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, as the source of a national study on medical errors.

The Straits Times (Singapore)
December 28, 1999
Furore over findings
THE furore over medical errors was triggered by a recent news report that medical errors in the United States account for between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths a year.
The figures come from two large studies.

Health Letter on the CDC
December 27, 1999
Preventing Medical Errors Requires Dramatic Change.
1999 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Reducing one of the leading causes of death and injury in the U.S. - medical errors - will require rigorous changes throughout the health care system, including mandatory reporting requirements, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies.
The report lays out a comprehensive strategy for government, industry, consumers, and health providers to reduce medical errors, and it calls on the U.S. Congress to create a national patient safety center to develop new tools and systems needed to address persistent problems.
The human cost of medical errors is high. Based on the findings of one major study, medical errors kill some 44,000 people in U.S. hospitals each year. Another study puts the number much higher, at 98,000. Even using the lower estimate, more people die from medical mistakes each year than from highway accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS.

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA
DATE1: December 27, 1999
December 27, 1999
PRIMARY CARE: Preventing Medical Errors Requires Dramatic Change
Reducing one of the leading causes of death and injury in the U.S. - medical errors - will require rigorous changes throughout the health care system, including mandatory reporting requirements, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies.
The report lays out a comprehensive strategy for government, industry, consumers, and health providers to reduce medical errors, and it calls on the U.S. Congress to create a national patient safety center to develop new tools and systems needed to address persistent problems.
The human cost of medical errors is high. Based on the findings of one major study, medical errors kill some 44,000 people in U.S. hospitals each year. Another study puts the number much higher, at 98,000. Even using the lower estimate, more people die from medical mistakes each year than from highway accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS.

World Disease Weekly
December 27, 1999
Preventing Medical Errors Requires Dramatic Change.
1999 DEC 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Reducing one of the leading causes of death and injury in the U.S. - medical errors - will require rigorous changes throughout the health care system, including mandatory reporting requirements, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies.
The report lays out a comprehensive strategy for government, industry, consumers, and health providers to reduce medical errors, and it calls on the U.S. Congress to create a national patient safety center to develop new tools and systems needed to address persistent problems.
The human cost of medical errors is high. Based on the findings of one major study, medical errors kill some 44,000 people in U.S. hospitals each year. Another study puts the number much higher, at 98,000. Even using the lower estimate, more people die from medical mistakes each year than from highway accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS.

The New York Times
December 26, 1999, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
AMBITIOUS EFFORT TO CUT MISTAKES IN U.S. HOSPITALS
Spurred by an Institute of Medicine report last month, big employers, health care organizations, state regulators and the federal government are stepping up pressure to revamp a health care system that calls itself the best in the world, yet hides and ignores mistakes that kill tens of thousands of patients a year.
Largely in response to the report, eight executives of some of the nation's biggest companies, including General Motors and General Electric, disclosed this week that they had formed an organization they call The Leapfrog Group to encourage all employers to make safe medicine a top priority of the health insurance they provide their workers and to steer workers to hospitals that make the fewest mistakes.

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL

December 26, 1999 Sunday, METRO
GROUP WILL TAKE AIM AT MEDICAL MISTAKES
Spurred by an Institute of Medicine report last month, big employers, health-care organizations, regulators and the federal government are stepping up pressure to revamp a health-care system that calls itself the best in the world, yet hides and ignores mistakes that kill tens of thousands of patients each year.
Largely in response to the report, eight executives of some of the nation's largest companies, including General Motors and General Electric, disclosed last week that they had formed an organization, called "The Leapfrog Group," to encourage employers to make safe medicine a top priority of the health insurance they provide workers and to steer workers to hospitals that make the fewest mistakes.

The Plain Dealer

December 26, 1999 Sunday, FINAL / ALL
DRIVE AIMS TO REDUCE DEADLY ERRORS IN MEDICAL CARE INDUSTRY
Spurred by an Institute of Medicine report last month, big employers, health care organizations, state regulators and the federal government are stepping up pressure to revamp a health care system that calls itself the best in the world, yet hides and ignores mistakes that kill tens of thousands of patients a year.
Largely in response to the report, eight executives of some of the nation's biggest companies, including General Motors and General Electric, disclosed last week that they have formed an organization they call "The Leapfrog Group" to encourage all employers to make safe medicine a top priority of the health insurance they provide their workers, and to steer workers to hospitals that make the fewest mistakes.
The Times-Picayune
December 26, 1999 Sunday, ORLEANS
EMPLOYERS PUSH REVAMP OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEM;
HOSPITAL MISTAKES KILL TOO MANY, GROUP SAYS
Spurred by an Institute of Medicine report last month, big employers, health care organizations, state regulators and the federal government are stepping up pressure to revamp a health care system that calls itself the best in the world, yet hides and ignores mistakes that kill tens of thousands of patients a year.
In response to the report, eight executives of some of the nation's biggest companies, including General Motors and General Electric, disclosed last week that they have formed an organization they call "The Leapfrog Group" to encourage employers to make safe medicine a top priority of the health insurance they provide their workers, and to steer workers to hospitals that make the fewest mistakes.

SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE
December 23, 1999, Thursday MICHIGAN
Lawmakers seek panel to study medical goofs
MICHIGAN Briefs
LANSING -- Two physicians-turned-lawmakers called on Gov. John Engler Wednesday to appoint a commission that would study ways to reduce medical errors that result in death, injury or illness.
State Rep. Paul DeWeese, R-Williamston, and state Sen. John Schwarz, R-Battle Creek, who are both medical doctors, want to explore how Michigan hospitals and other health care providers can reduce errors, such as mishandling records and administering the wrong medication.

The Buffalo News
December 21, 1999, Tuesday, CITY EDITION
ATTEMPT AT HOSPITAL REPORT CARD GEARED TO AUTOWORKERS
Roughly 60,000 people in the Buffalo region will receive a consumer guide to local hospitals in the next week commissioned by some of the biggest employers, Ford and General Motors.
This beginning attempt at a hospital report card is intended to help autoworkers, retirees and their families make better-informed health-care decisions and to prod hospitals to improve quality.
"The lessons are that quality matters, it varies from hospital to hospital, and that quality is important to consumers," said Diane Bechel, director of the hospital-profiling program at Ford.
The information also is available on a Web site for others to see, as are similar reports for hospitals in Cleveland, Atlanta, Indianapolis and southeastern Michigan.

U.S. Newswire
December 20, 1999 16:0 Eastern Time
American Legion Launches Its Own Review of VA Medical Mishaps
LEAD: A day after reports were published about 3,000 medical errors in 19 months
in Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals -- 700 of them resulting in
patient deaths -- the nation's largest veterans organization today launched
its own review of the findings. The 2.8-million member American Legion is
examining the federal study in order to recommend improvements in VA health
care.
   "The American Legion will determine the origin of these alarming
mishaps and, accordingly, will recommend reforms," American Legion National
Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Commission Chairman Thomas Cadmus
said.
   "The VA health care system is designed to serve veterans; wounded
troops in time of war; and the community at large when a national disaster
strikes. The system is a national asset that must be improved and
preserved.
   "Users of the system should keep their scheduled appointments so that
their conditions do not worsen due to neglect. Veterans should feel
assured that the overall quality of VA health care is very high. The
American Legion will work with VA in order to improve the system's
patient-safety program, which is the purpose of VA conducting the study."

Business Wire
December 20, 1999, Monday
"Medical Mistakes" Report Spotlights Importance of Little-Known Consulting Specialty
When the Institute of Medicine released its bombshell report earlier this month on 44,000 to 98,000 deaths a year in the U.S. attributable to medical bungles, one prominent factor mentioned was easily confused drug names.
According to Lauren Teton, Partner of Name One!, a product naming firm with offices in New York City, Dallas and Mars Hill, North Carolina, pharmaceutical companies often spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing a drug, and then overlook pitfalls that a good naming specialist would help them avoid.
"We see bad names that cause problems almost every day in our work says Lee Ballard, Partner of Name One! "Some are fatal to products. Drug names it would appear, have been fatal to the user." As examples of names that have proved confusing, he points to similarly spelled drugs, such as the Cerebrex and Celexa, and phonetically similar drugs, such as Zantac, and Xanax.

Computerworld
December 20, 1999
IT can reduce Medical errors;
Push follows U.S. report on fatal drug mistakes
By Julekha Dash
A federal effort to wring medical errors out of the U.S. health care system may speed up some slow-moving information technology initiatives that could prevent dangerous drug mix-ups.
On Dec. 6, President Clinton ordered federal agencies that finance or provide health care to take steps to reduce medical errors. In his briefing, Clinton mentioned that technology could be part of the solution.

M2 PRESSWIRE
December 20, 1999
AHRQ
AHRQ seeks best practices and innovative strategies to reduce medical errors & improve safety
John M. Eisenberg, M.D., director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), today announced that the agency is seeking investigators to test the effectiveness of the transfer and application of "best practices" to improve patient safety by reducing preventable medical errors that are frequent and cause serious harm through improvement in health care systems. AHRQ will award up to $2 million in fiscal year 2000 to support 4 to 6 projects under this Request for Applications (RFA) entitled "Systems-related Best Practices to Improve Patient Safety." Letters of intent are due by March 10, 2000, and applications are due by April 27, 2000. Public and private for-profit and nonprofit organizations, including universities, clinics, state and local government units, nonprofit firms and nonprofit foundations may submit applications.

Marketletter
December 20, 1999
HHS slams voluntary ADR reporting.
While an estimated 2 million Americans are hospitalized and 100,000 die each year due to prescription drug side effects, in 1997 the Food and Drug Administration was notified of only 33,541 such hospitalizations and 9,961 deaths, says a new report from the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Social Services.
The problem is that hospitals are not required to report adverse drug reactions to the FDA or to the product's manufacturer, says the study.

Chattanooga Times / Chattanooga Free Press
December 19, 1999, Sunday
VA Is 1st Health Care System To Monitor, Report Mistakes
WASHINGTON -- Federal investigators have documented almost 3,000 medical mistakes and mishaps in less than two years at veterans hospitals around the country, and more than 700 patients have died in those cases, the Department of Veterans Affairs says in a new report.
The accidents and deaths occurred from June 1997 to December 1998, in the first 19 months of a new policy that requires employees to report medical errors and "adverse events." Since then, the department has been getting such reports at a rate of more than 200 a month.
The problems include medication errors, like prescribing or dispensing the wrong drugs, the failure of medical devices, abuse of patients, errors in blood transfusions, surgery on the wrong body part or the wrong patient, improper insertion of catheters or feeding tubes, and a variety of "therapeutic misadventures" that caused serious injuries or deaths.
The report echoes concerns raised last year by a physician at Chattanooga's VA outpatient clinic. Dr. William B. Bush's allegations of medical mistakes eventually triggered an inspector general's investigation that recommended sweeping changes in care and procedures.

The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
December 19, 1999, SUNDAY, FINAL EDITION
METHODOLOGY IS SERIOUSLY ILL
Your Dec. 8 editorial "Dead Wrong" said that "medical mistakes kill as many as 98,000 hospital patients each year, a disturbing new report by the Institute of Medicine estimates." That was the second time in recent days The Commercial Appeal quoted that number.
The figure appears to have been derived from a study by a Harvard professor of health policy based on 30,000 discharge records from 51 New York state hospitals in 1984. The nature of these hospitals (size, whether primary, secondary or tertiary, whether teaching or not, rural or isolated, the training and specialties of the physicians involved) is not clear.

The New York Times
December 19, 1999, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
REPORT OUTLINES MEDICAL ERRORS IN V.A. HOSPITALS
Federal investigators have documented almost 3,000 medical mistakes and mishaps in less than two years at veterans hospitals around the country, and more than 700 patients have died in those cases, the Department of Veterans Affairs says in a new report.
The accidents and deaths occurred from June 1997 to December 1998, in the first 19 months of a new policy that requires employees to report medical errors and "adverse events." Since then, the department has been getting such reports at a rate of more than 200 a month.

The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
December 19, 1999, Sunday, SUNDAY EDITION
Errors in VA care disclosed ;
DEADLY MISTAKES: A REPORT ON VETERANS AFFAIRS HOSPITALS NOTED MORE THAN 700 DEATHS IN CASES WHERE MEDICAL MISTAKES WERE MADE OVER LESS THAN TWO YEARS
New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON - Federal investigators have documented almost 3,000 medical mistakes and mishaps in less than two years at veterans hospitals around the country, and more than 700 patients have died in those cases, the Department of Veterans Affairs says in a new report.
The accidents and deaths occurred from June 1997 to December 1998, in the first 19 months of a new policy that requires employees to report medical errors and "adverse events." Since then, the department has been getting such reports at a rate of more than 200 a month.
The problems include medication errors, like prescribing or dispensing the wrong drugs, the failure of medical devices, abuse of patients, errors in blood transfusions, surgery on the wrong body part or the wrong patient, improper insertion of catheters or feeding tubes, and a variety of "therapeutic misadventures" that caused serious injuries or deaths.
The comprehensive self-examination by the Department of Veterans Affairs, believed to be the first of its kind by any health care system in the nation, shows what could be expected if all hospitals had to report their errors, as recommended recently by the National Academy of Sciences. The number of reported errors would be high, but health care executives would get useful information about problems that need to be fixed, officials said.

The Providence Journal-Bulletin
December 19, 1999, Sunday, All EDITIONS
Curbing medical mistakes
President Clinton has reacted swiftly to a report asserting that mistakes cause thousands of unnecessary hospital deaths each year. The report, from the highly regarded National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, found that errors may kill as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people annually. Its authors suggest setting up a new federal Center for Patient Safety, charged with tracking medical errors and setting goals for reducing them.

St. Petersburg Times
December 19, 1999, Sunday, 0 South Pinellas Edition
Safety in numbers
Fifteen hospitals across the country, including University Community Hospital in Tampa, are using a Tampa company's software to compile data on everything from patient falls to bedsores to surgical accidents - and figure out why mistakes are made and how to avoid them.
When the national Institute of Medicine reported recently that medical errors in U.S. hospitals kill 44,000 to 98,000 people each year, David Spencer of Tampa wasn't the least bit surprised.
About four years ago, his wife suffered complications from a routine gynecological procedure when a faulty device shattered in her uterus during surgery. Since then, he has brought a personal sense of mission to what already was his business: helping hospitals track mistakes and identify the source of repeated problems.
Spencer's Tampa company, recently renamed Safety-Centered Solutions Inc., has developed software that allows hospitals to compile data on everything from patient falls to bedsores to surgical accidents, then drill down into the data to identify why things go wrong.

INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL (LANCASTER, PA.)
December 17, 1999, Friday
Eliminating errors;
Institute of Medicine report outlines policies to reduce medical mistakes
The day after the Intelligencer Journal prominently reported that medical errors kill between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans a year we received a phone call from an unhappy reader.
The man, who said he was about to enter the hospital, told us he was distressed by the article and said he wished we hadn't printed it.
We replied that we hadn't purposely tried to add to his understandable worry, but that this news was shocking and important. It was also the top story in nearly every one of the dozen or so newspapers that had crossed our threshold and was heavily covered on TV.

INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL (LANCASTER, PA.)
December 17, 1999, Friday
County's hospitals get good marks in state report;
LGH, Ephrata excel in treatment of certain severe illnesses
Two Lancaster County hospitals are among the best at treating certain severe illnesses, a state health-care watchdog group reported today.
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4), an independent state agency that monitors the cost and quality of health care, released its second annual Hospital Performance Report. The report evaluates how successfully and cost-effectively state hospitals perform 15 common medical procedures and treatments.
Both Lancaster General and Ephrata Community hospitals achieved special distinctions in the report.

The Dallas Morning News
December 16, 1999, Thursday THIRD EDITION
Patient Safety;
Medical professionals could learn from aviation example
What should an anesthesiologist do when he discovers that he has accidentally picked up the wrong medicine and administered it to a patient? Although nothing catastrophic occurs, should he tell a colleague? Keep the mistake to himself?
One Denver anesthesiologist found himself in that situation earlier this year. As he told the New York Times, he was stunned to learn that four out of five of his medical partners had done the same thing.

National Journal's CongressDaily
December 15, 1999 5:55 pm Eastern Time
pm
SECTION: HEALTH
Specter Wary Of New Agency To Target Medical Errors
Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., earlier this week said he is reluctant to create a new bureau within HHS that would attempt to slow the occurrence of medical errors, as an Institute of Medicine report recommended last month. "They call it a bureau, but it's another agency, and I'm not sure that's the way to go," he said following a Monday hearing that reviewed the report.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 15, 1999, Wednesday, 31ONE STAR EDITION
FDA PRODDED ON DANGEROUS DRUG SIDE EFFECTS
Government oversight agency calls for improved tracking of injuries and deaths nationwide
By Lauran Neergaard
The Associated Press The Food and Drug Administration must find new ways to learn when Americans are injured or killed by prescription drugs because doctors and hospitals don't alert regulators to problems quickly enough, concludes a new report by a government oversight agency.
Studies have estimated that 2 million Americans are hospitalized annually from drug side effects, and 100,000 die.
Part of the FDA's job is to track side effects of the medications it approves for sale so that health officials can take action if unexpected problems arise and hunt ways to prevent drug-related injuries.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 15, 1999, Wednesday, SOONER EDITION
MURPHY'S LAW
You know the story: Big store meets small town, leaving a trail of mom-and-pops in its wake. At least that's the way it worked in "You've Got Mail," where Tom Hanks plays the heavy, representing the unfeeling national book chain that drives the charming little children's bookstore run by Meg Ryan out of business.
On the surface, that's the way it may look in Pittsburgh, too, where Mayor Tom Murphy is on a campaign to glitz up his downtown with chi-chi stores like Lord & Taylor. This time, however, it's not the evil megastores putting the little guys out of business. It's their very own city government, which is abusing the law of eminent domain to take land from businesses it doesn't like and give it to those it does. The plan is called "Market Place at Fifth and Forbes," a $ 480 million effort that calls for the city to buy 62 properties, raze most of the buildings and sell them to a big developer.

Chicago Tribune
December 15, 1999 Wednesday, CHICAGO SPORTS FINAL EDITION
GETTING THE SCOOP: HOSPITAL STORY MAKES A GOOD CASE FOR EMBARGOES
The drive to beat the other guy to the big story is one of journalism's primal instincts. But NBC's desire to be first with the blockbuster news that errors in hospitals kill between 44,000 and 98,000 people a year highlights how news consumers lose in the race for a scoop.
That finding -- from a new report by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine -- was big news. It led the ABC and NBC newscast on Nov. 29, and it made Page 1 of The Washington Post and The New York Times the next morning.

SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE
December 14, 1999, Tuesday INDIANA, MICHIGAN, MISHAWAKA, PHM, TRIBUNE
There are answers to medical error crisis
The jobs of medical professionals are too complex to ever be error-free. Doctors, nurses, technicians and pharmacists are only human, after all.
The inevitability of mistakes is no excuse to do nothing, however. That is where the medical profession has been shockingly negligent: in failing to face the causes of errors in order to implement preventive measures.

American Health Line
December 14, 1999
MEDICAL ERRORS: AMA NOT IN FAVOR OF MANDATORY REPORTING
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Nancy Dickey, former president of the AMA, "clashed over whether the government should require health care workers to report and publicly disclose serious errors" during a three-hour hearing of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services and education, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Subcommittee Chair Specter asked Dickey if the AMA would favor the Institute of Medicine recommendation of a federal reporting system for serious errors. Dickey responded, "We don't believe at this point that we need a federal mandate," adding that "mandatory reporting would not improve patient care" (Gerlin, 12/14). She said, "Past federal efforts to collect data on physicians and other health care providers in the name of quality improvement have had a negative effect on efforts to create an environment that fosters trust and open communication" (Rovner, CongressDaily, 12/13). Specter shot back, "I would respectfully disagree with you about the need for a federal mandatory reporting system. I think the evidence is on the table for it. ... You're talking about a problem here which is pretty well recognized nationally" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/14). ADDITIONAL TESTIMONY Others testifying before the subcommittee included industry insiders, patients harmed by medical errors and family members of those who had been harmed. Stanton Smullens, who testified on behalf of the American Hospital Association, agreed with Dickey's sentiments, saying, "We have to create an environment in which we learn from failure. This cannot be achieved in an environment of punishment or fear of legal prosecution for doctors, nurses and other care givers who step forward after an unfortunate mistake is made" (CongressDaily, 12/13). Dr. John Eisenberg, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, said that the IOM report's finding that mistakes result in between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths each year might be an underestimate.

The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
December 14, 1999, TUESDAY, FINAL EDITION
PANEL TOLD OF MEDICAL MISTAKE HORRORS
Dr. Karl Shipman broke his wrist, but it killed him.
Bacteria set in during surgery to set his wrist, and a staph infection ultimately raged through his body. The Denver physician's fellow doctors did not pick it up.

Dayton Daily News
December 14, 1999, Tuesday,
SENATORS HEAR OF MEDICAL HORRORS
WASHINGTON - Dr. Karl Shipman merely broke his wrist, but it killed him.
Bacteria set in during surgery to set his wrist, and a staph infection ultimately raged through his body. The Denver physician's fellow doctors did not pick it up.

The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
December 14, 1999, TUESDAY; ALL EDITIONS
SENATE OPENS THE DEBATE ON LETHAL MEDICALMISTAKES
PANEL REVIEWS COMPLAINTS
Dr. Karl Shipman merely broke his wrist, but it killed him.
Bacteria set in during surgery to set his wrist, and a staph
infection ultimately raged through his body. The Denver physician's
fellow doctors did not pick it up.
COUNTRY: UNITED STATES (53%);
CITY: DENVER, CO, USA (74%);

The Washington Post

December 14, 1999, Tuesday, Final Edition
WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Panel Hears of Fatal Medical Errors
The alarming frequency with which medical mistakes kill or gravely injure Americans was brought home to a congressional panel yesterday as victims and their families told horror stories of treatment errors in hospitals and demanded new safeguards.
A report released earlier this month by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found that fatal mistakes cause 44,000 to 98,000 deaths each year in America's health care system, galvanizing Congress and the Clinton administration.
With spiraling medical costs and increasingly sophisticated treatment, the public has reacted with outrage to the report that more Americans die from medical errors than the roughly 17,000 who die each year of AIDS. There are even indications that the report may not have sounded the alarm as loudly as it could have. "In fact, the IOM estimates that medical errors could be the eighth-leading cause of death in this country," John Eisenberg, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, told the Senate panel.

THE BUSINESS PRESS/CALIFORNIA
December 13, 1999, Monday
Local hospitals called safe despite chilling U.S. report
A recent report claims tens of thousands of patients die in
America every year due to errors made during hospital care.
Local hospital administrators, however, say their hospitals
are safe.
They're not sure whether the report by the Institute of
Medicine is statistically accurate, but they are sure its
recommendations to add another layer of bureaucratic oversight
of hospitals is unnecessary.

Federal News Service
December 13, 1999, Monday
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF MARY FOLEY, MS, RN AMERICAN NURSES ASSOCIATION
BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION AND RELATED AGENCIES
SUBJECT - PATIENT SAFETY AND MEDICAL ERRORS
The American Nurses Association (ANA) appreciates the opportunity to discuss our concerns regarding the topic of patient safety and medical errors. The issue of health care error is one of great importance to the nursing profession. Nurses have substantial contributions to make to efforts to reduce health care error, and it is critical for us to share our perspectives. ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.6 million registered nurses, including staff nurses, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse midwives and certified registered nurse anesthetists through its 53 state and territorial nurses associations.
The health care industry is undergoing rapid changes that transform systems into highly complex and sophisticated enterprises where scrutiny of patient satisfaction and patient outcomes is increasing.
Many health care institutions are creating an atmosphere of "blame" in which individual health care providers are increasingly held accountable for adverse patient outcomes. Mistakes by health care providers are viewed as individual failings rather than as systems failures, and are dealt with in a punitive framework.

Federal News Service
December 13, 1999, Monday
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF MARY WAKEFIELD, PH.D., R.N. MEMBER, QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA COMMITTEE INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY, RESEARCH AND ETHICS GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND EDUCATION
SUBJECT - PATIENT SAFETY AND MEDICAL ERRORS
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Senator Harkin, and members of the Committee. My name is Mary Wakefield and I am the Director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University. I am here today representing the Institute of Medicine's Committee on the Quality of Health Care in America which recently released the report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Joining me today is Dr. Janet Corrigan, Director of the IOM Quality of Health Care in America Project.
Patient safety is a tremendously important issue, and one that deserves urgent attention. Our health-care system is the best in the world. We are living longer, and are healthier, than at any time in the history of humankind. But our health care system is also under enormous strain, made evident by the number of medical errors plaguing us. The human cost is high. Based on the findings of one major study, 44,000 hospital patients die each year as a result of medical errors. Another study puts the number even higher at 98,000. Even using the more conservative figure, medical mistakes would rank eighth among the leading causes of death - ahead of traffic accidents, breast cancer, and AIDS.

Managed Care Week
December 13, 1999
Institute of Medicine Errors Study Spurs Clinton Order to Plans.
A recent Institute of Medicine study that found a surprisingly high rate of medical errors spurred President Clinton to order health plans to institute quality improvement and patient safety initiatives.
The Institute of Medicine said medical errors kill 44,000 to 98,000 people in U.S. hospitals each year, according to various studies. Errors result from incorrect medications, illegible medical orders, inappropriate surgeries and preventable infections.

Modern Healthcare
December 13, 1999, Monday
Clinton seeks action on medical errors
President Clinton last week demanded swift action from healthcare providers and government officials to improve patient safety at the nation's hospitals.
Clinton's efforts follow an Institute of Medicine report that said medical errors by healthcare facilities and practitioners kill between 44,000 and 98,000 patients every year. That tops breast cancer, automobile accidents and AIDS as a cause of death (Dec. 6, p. 16). The errors add as much as $29 billion to Americans' medical bills, according to the report. The institute recommended that a new system be created to track errors and require providers to report errors to a national organization.

National Journal's CongressDaily
December 13, 1999 5:55 pm Eastern Time
pm
SECTION: HEALTH
Senate Panel Examines Medical Errors, Bill Likely In 2000
Patient and healthcare providers faced off today at a Senate hearing over the most effective way to minimize medical errors. The hearing of the Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee was called to examine the recommendations issued last month by the Institute of Medicine. The IoM found that medical errors kill between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans annually, and called for a national effort to reduce errors by half over the next five years. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said last week he will introduce legislation to implement the panel's recommendations when Congress returns, and Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said today he may also draft legislation. "My sense is that my colleagues will be looking at some sort of mandatory reporting system," he said. Kennedy's bill will include such a system. Already proving to be the most controversial of the IoM recommendations is the call for mandatory reporting of errors that result in serious injury or death. "The public has a right to know about errors resulting in serious harm, and that this information should be made available to the public with appropriate safeguards for protecting patient and provider confidentiality," testified Mary Wakefield of George Mason University, a member of the IoM panel.

News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
December 13, 1999, Monday, ALL EDITIONS
CHANGING THE CULTURE OF BLAME;
THE NUMBER OF MEDICAL MISTAKES COULD BE REDUCED BY FOCUSING ON FLAWED SYSTEMS,;
NOT FLAWED DOCTORS.
This one barely qualifies as a ''whoopsie.'' I'd never have noted the little mishap if it hadn't happened to my own aunt or if it hadn't come in the wake of a report that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths occur from medical accidents every year.
There in the clinic was Mrs. Alexander, aka ''the vertigo.'' She was one curtain away from Mrs. Fernandez, aka ''the diabetes.'' But it was 15 minutes into the conversation before the very pleasant young doctor discovered that Mrs. A wasn't Mrs. F.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 13, 1999, Monday, SOONER EDITION
PRESCRIPTION FOR SAFETY;
IT'S TIME TO STOP THE ' STUNNING' NUMBER OF MEDICAL ERRORS
The medical profession pledges to "first do no harm." It doesn't always work out that way. In light of a "stunningly high rate of medical errors," a National Academy of Sciences panel recently called for a new federal agency and a reporting system to protect patients.
"Stunning" is almost an understatement. According to research, an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year because of mistakes made in hospitals, alone. That is more than die in car accidents or from breast cancer.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

December 13, 1999, Monday, SOONER EDITION
PRESCRIPTION FOR SAFETY;
IT'S TIME TO STOP THE ' STUNNING' NUMBER OF MEDICAL ERRORS
The medical profession pledges to "first do no harm." It doesn't always work out that way. In light of a "stunningly high rate of medical errors," a National Academy of Sciences panel recently called for a new federal agency and a reporting system to protect patients.
"Stunning" is almost an understatement. According to research, an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year because of mistakes made in hospitals, alone. That is more than die in car accidents or from breast cancer.

PR Newswire
December 13, 1999, Monday
Aetna Urges Healthcare Industry to Work Together to Reduce Deaths Caused by Medical Errors; White House, Congress Focus on Institute of Medicine Findings
"Managed care organizations can play a critical role in reducing medical errors that result in 44,000 to 98,000 avoidable deaths each year through their data analysis and quality improvement capabilities and by working together with hospitals, physicians and government agencies," said John T. Kelly, M.D., Aetna U.S. Healthcare's director of physician relations.
"We applaud both the White House and Congress's attention to this critical public safety and health issue, but think the entire healthcare industry can and must do more," said Dr. Kelly.
The alarming statistics from a recent Institute of Medicine study are the focus of hearings today on Capitol Hill and a new agency review ordered by the White House. "These statistics have raised concerns among Americans. As good as the U.S. healthcare system is, our focus as an industry must be on continuous improvement," said Kelly.
Managed care organizations have a vital role in reducing medical errors through their partnerships with physicians and hospitals, information management techniques and support of research, according to Dr. Kelly.
"The opportunities for managed care organizations to reduce errors in the healthcare system are significant," said Carol Diamond, M.D., MPH, president of U.S. Quality Algorithms, the quality measurement affiliate of Aetna U.S. Healthcare. Aetna U.S. Healthcare systems frequently alert pharmacists at the point of purchase that the drugs being dispensed to an Aetna U.S. Healthcare member might have potential drug-to-drug, drug-to-disease or even drug-to-age contraindications.
Dr. Diamond pointed to The Institute of Medicine report to show how managed care can be a part of the solution.

Time
December 13, 1999
Doctors' Deadly Mistakes;
Medical errors kill up to 98,000 Americans yearly; a new report says that number could be cut drastically
Vincent Gargano was lucky--or so he thought. The 42-year-old
Chicago postal worker's prostate cancer was detected early, and
he responded well to two five-day rounds of chemotherapy at the
University of Chicago. On the third and final round, however,
things went terribly wrong. Instead of getting 176 g per day of
one drug and 39.4 g of another, as prescribed, he was mistakenly
given 176 g of the second drug as well--a massive overdose.
Within five days Gargano was deaf. Then his kidneys began to
fail. Then his liver shut down. And just a few months after
entering the hospital with a favorable prognosis, Gargano was
dead, his body overwhelmed by infection.
Ben Kolb, 7, needed minor ear surgery, and his doctors at Martin
Memorial Medical Center in Stuart, Fla., began by injecting him
with lidocaine, a local anesthetic. Except that it wasn't
lidocaine; it was adrenaline, a powerful stimulant. A minute
later Ben's blood pressure soared, and his heart began to race.

U.S. News & World Report

December 13, 1999
Doctoring a sickly system
James Bagian has investigated deadly mistakes before. Following the 1986 Challenger space-shuttle explosion, the physician, engineer, and astronaut supervised the capsule's recovery from the ocean floor, after first diving 95 feet into the warm Atlantic Ocean waters to find the remains of his friends and fellow astronauts. Then he redesigned the shuttle, adding an escape hatch, pressure suits, and parachutes to prevent another such tragedy. But even with the drama and derring-do of that mission, he says, the most important challenge of his life came two years ago when he was asked to figure out why medical errors were killing so many patients in hospitals run by the Veterans Health Administration.
It's not that the VA's 172 hospitals were more dangerous than others. Deadly medical errors are the health care system's dirty little secret, as an astonishing new survey from the Institute of Medicine made clear last week. That report, "To Err is Human," estimated that 44,000 to 98,000 Americans a year die from preventable mistakes--from drug mix-ups to inattentive treatment--made in hospitals by physicians, pharmacists, and other health care professionals. Even the lower figure ranks hospital errors as the nation's eighth most frequent killer, taking more lives than car crashes.

FDCH Political Transcripts

December 13, 1999, Monday
TYPE: COMMITTEE HEARING
COMMITTEE: SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES OF THE SENATE
U.S. SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA) HOLDS HEARING ON MEDICAL MISTAKES
LOCATION: WASHINGTON, D.C.
U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR,
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION AND RELATED AGENCIES HOLDS
HEARING ON MEDICAL MISTAKES

DECEMBER 13, 1999

*** Elapsed Time 00:00, Eastern Time 10:34 ***

SPEAKERS: U.S. SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA), CHAIRMAN
U.S. SENATOR THAD COCHRAN (R-MS)
U.S. SENATOR SLADE GORTON (R-WA)
U.S. SENATOR JUDD GREGG (R-NH)
U.S. SENATOR LARRY CRAIG (R-ID)
U.S. SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R-TX)
U.S. SENATOR TED STEVENS (R-AK)
U.S. SENATOR JON KYL (R-AZ)

U.S. SENATOR TOM HARKIN (D-IA), RANKING MEMBER
U.S. SENATOR ERNEST F. HOLLINGS (D-SC)
U.S. SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE (D-HI)
U.S. SENATOR HARRY REID (D-NV)
U.S. SENATOR HERB KOHL (D-WI)
U.S. SENATOR PATTY MURRAY (D-WA)
U.S. SENATOR BARBARA FEINSTEIN (D-CA)

JOHN EISENBERG, DIRECTOR
U.S. AGENCY FOR HEALTH CARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY

MARY WAKEFIELD, DIRECTOR
CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY AND ETHICS
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

ANNE SHEA, ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND COO
NATIONAL PATIENT SAFETY FOUNDATION

NANCY DICKEY, PRESIDENT
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

JOHN REED, DIRECTOR
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY CATASTROPHE LOSS FUND

DR. STANTON SMULLENS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
JEFFERSON HEALTH SYSTEM, PHILADELPHIA

RAY MCEACHERN, PRESIDENT
ASSOCIATION FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDICINE

DIANA ARTEMIS, SENIOR BUSINESS PROCESS ENGINEE

DEBORAH MALONE, INTENSIVE CARE NURSE

MARY FOLEY, REGISTERED NURSE, FIRST VICE PRESIDENT,
AMERICAN NURSES ASSOCIATION

DR. MARTIN MERRY, NORTHLAND HEALTH GROUP

*
SPECTER: On November 29th, the Institute of Medicine issued a report entitled "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System," which catalogue an enormous number of medical errors which occur in our health care delivery system -- hospitals, doctors' offices.
NOTES:
Unknown - Indicates speaker unknown.
Inaudible - Could not make out what was being said.
off mike - Indicates could not make out what was being said.

The Houston Chronicle
December 12, 1999, Sunday 2 STAR EDITION
Looking hard at medicine, the system
I'D never have noted the little mishap if it hadn't happened to my own aunt or if it hadn't come in the wake of a report that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths occur from medical accidents every year.
There in the clinic was Mrs. Alexander, a k a "the vertigo." She was one curtain away from Mrs. Fernandez, a k a "the diabetes." But it was 15 minutes into the conversation before the very pleasant young doctor discovered that Mrs. A wasn't Mrs. F.
Nothing happened, mind you. Mrs. A didn't get a shot of insulin. Mrs. F didn't get a CAT scan. The scramble was unscrambled, the charts switched. But it was one of those reminders of the meaning behind the words that grace the title of the Institute of Medicine report: "To Err Is Human."

The Tampa Tribune
December 12, 1999, Sunday, FINAL EDITION
Medical errors bring widespread pain;

TAMPA - Medical professionals say they are more careful than ever, but from the Tampa Bay area to the rest of the nation, patients have reasons to doubt.
Joe Cortina emerged from surgery with a rejuvenated heart, but also with a fractured rib and a hole in his chest through which he could see that heart beating beneath his skin.
His doctor called it a rare complication of life-saving surgery. Cortina called it a medical mistake.
"They disfigure you as if it's nothing," he said recently, before a second surgery and physical therapy to correct the problems from the first operation. "But it's my life, and I think that's important."

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
December 12, 1999, Sunday
HOSPITAL WORKS TO PREVENT ERRORS
CHEYENNE -- National attention may be focused on the issue of medical errors, but it's not a new concern for United Medical Center, hospital officials say.
Policies and procedures have been in place for many years to ensure mistakes are kept to a minimum, they add.
A group of hospital staffers who deal regularly with medical error prevention measures discussed the matter last week.

Charleston Daily Mail
December 11, 1999, Saturday
Preventing medical mistakes Doctors need to build dikes around fallibility
BOSTON - This one barely qualifies as a "whoopsie." I'd never have
noted the little mishap if it hadn't happened to my own aunt or if it
hadn't come in the wake of a report that between 44,000 and 98,000
deaths occur from medical accidents every year.
There in the clinic was Mrs. Alexander, aka "the vertigo." She was
one curtain away from Mrs. Fernandez, aka "the diabetes." But it was

CNN
SHOW: CNN YOUR HEALTH 14:30 pm ET
December 11, 1999; Saturday 2:30 pm Eastern Time
Genetic Marker Helps Researchers Pinpoint Cancer Cells; Experimental Pill May be Breakthrough for Leukemia Patients; New Survey Show There Can Be Pleasure After Hysterectomy
LEAD:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DR. STEVE SALVATORE, HOST: Today on YOUR HEALTH, finding a needle in a biological haystack. Researchers say they found a genetic marker so powerful, it can pinpoint one cancer cell out of millions of normal cells.
And from pinpointing cancer cells to destroying them, why researchers are saying this tiny experimental pill may be a breakthrough for leukemia patients.

The Boston Herald
December 10, 1999 Friday ALL EDITIONS
Op-Ed; Inept doctors hard to root out
My friend, Thomas O. Gorsuch IV, who is 68 and looks like Paul Newman, e-mailed with the cheeky message that he doesn't look like Paul Newman anymore. A photo of his scarred and swollen face showed he wasn't kidding.
"What happened? Did a truck hit you?" I messaged back.
"I had a pimple on my nose," he wrote.

The Buffalo News
December 10, 1999, Friday, CITY EDITION
DEATH BY MISTAKE
In ascending order of severity, about 16,500 Americans will die this year from AIDS, 42,300 will die from cancer and 43,450 will die in highway accidents. None measures up to the number of people who will die in hospitals because of medical mistakes.
At least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many as 98,000, die each year because of errors in hospitals, according to a new study by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences. Add in doctors' offices, outpatient clinics and pharmacies and the number grows. The causes include indecipherable handwriting, sound-alike drug names and the explosion in technology and variety of treatments.

Chattanooga Times / Chattanooga Free Press
December 10, 1999, Friday
Swift Action to Improve Patient Safety

Things can move swiftly in Washington. It doesn't happen often, but it is possible. Proof comes from President Clinton's announcement earlier this week that he has ordered the federal government to take immediate steps to reduce the number of patients who die or suffer injuries in the nation's hospitals each year.
His order comes just a week after the Institute of Medicine reported that somewhere between 44,000 and 98,000 hospitalized Americans die each year from medical mistakes. Those deaths result not only from carelessness or mistakes made by physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other health care personnel, but from rudimentary flaws in the way hospitals, clinics and pharmacies work.

The Dallas Morning News
December 10, 1999, Friday THIRD EDITION
Medical Mistakes;
A focus on system is way to bring improvements
This one barely qualifies as a "whoopsie." I never would have noted the little mishap if it hadn't happened to my own aunt or if it hadn't come in the wake of a report that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths occur from medical accidents every year.
There in the clinic was Mrs. Alexander, who was suffering from vertigo. She was one curtain away from Mrs. Fernandez, who had diabetes. But it was 15 minutes into the conversation before the very pleasant young doctor discovered that Mrs. A wasn't Mrs. F.

The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT)
December 10, 1999, Friday
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. A23
To err is human, even for doctors
BOSTON -- This one barely qualifies as a "whoopsie." I'd never have noted the little mishap if it hadn't happened to my own aunt or if it hadn't come in the wake of a report that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths occur from medical accidents every year.
There in the clinic was Mrs. Alexander, a k a "the vertigo." She was one curtain away from Mrs. Fernandez, a k a "the diabetes." But it was 15 minutes into the conversation before the very pleasant young doctor discovered that Mrs. A wasn't Mrs. F.

The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, FL)
December 10, 1999 Friday, City Edition
HEALTH CARE;
Don't overreact
It would be a mistake to create a huge new government bureaucracy on the strength of a study that claims doctors and hospitals are killing thousands of people each year.
The Clinton administration, which has put the country on notice that it will do anything to further nationalize health care in the United States, moved swiftly in that direction after the study by the Institute of Medicine was released.
However, there are a few caveats.

The New York Times
December 10, 1999, Friday, Late Edition - Final
Give Doctors Tougher Rules
I wish I could say that I was as shocked as most Americans when the Institute of Medicine reported that 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die each year because of medical errors. But in 50 years as a doctor, I have seen too much: the wrong breast operated on, the emergency situation botched by the physician who tried to handle it over the telephone, the wrong medicines administered. And I have seen indifference, duplicity and cover-ups shield incompetence and carelessness.
As a surgical chief of staff at a hospital for 20 years, I used the power of my position to insist on sound practice that gave mistakes no chance to happen. And I am convinced that if medical governing bodies did the same for all hospitals, H.M.O.'s and clinics -- laying down the strictest of policies and regulations to eliminate known unsound practices and failed treatments -- the medical errors that kill, maim and otherwise harm Americans would be largely averted.

The Plain Dealer

December 10, 1999 Friday, FINAL / ALL
TO ERR IS HUMAN - EXCEPT IN MEDICINE
This one barely qualifies as a "whoopsie." I'd never have noted the little mishap if it hadn't happened to my own aunt or if it hadn't come in the wake of a report that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths occur from medical accidents every year.
There in the clinic was Mrs. Alexander, aka "the vertigo." She was one curtain away from Mrs. Fernandez, aka "the diabetes." But it was 15 minutes into the conversation before the very pleasant young doctor discovered that Mrs. A wasn't Mrs. F.

The Times Union (Albany, NY)
December 10, 1999, Friday, THREE STAR EDITION
Time now to cut err pollution
BOSTON -- This one barely qualifies as a ''whoopsie.'' I'd never have noted the little mishap if it hadn't happened to my own aunt or if it hadn't come in the wake of a report that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths occur from medical accidents every year.
There in the clinic was Mrs. Alexander, a k a ''the vertigo.'' She was one curtain away from Mrs. Fernandez, a k a ''the diabetes.'' But it was 15 minutes into the conversation before the very pleasant young doctor discovered that Mrs. A wasn't Mrs. F.

Austin American-Statesman
December 9, 1999, Thursday
SECTION: Editorial; Pg. A15
To err is human, but let's put backups in place
This one barely qualifies as a "whoopsie." I'd never have noted the little mishap if it hadn't happened to my own aunt or if it hadn't come in the wake of a report that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths occur from medical accidents every year.
There in the clinic was Mrs. Alexander, a k a "the vertigo." She was one curtain away from Mrs. Fernandez, a k a "the diabetes." But it was 15 minutes into the conversation before the very pleasant young doctor discovered that Mrs. A wasn't Mrs. F.

Global News Wire
Beirut Times
December 9, 1999
FT-ACC-NO: A20000121F7D-882-WR
MEDICAL MISTAKES TAKE THE LEAD IN HIGH FATALITIES

Medical mistakes kill 44,000 to 98,000 people a year in US hospitals, more than car accidents, breast cancer or AIDS, the Institute of Medicine said. It cited factors ranging from the dizzying pace of change in medicine to confusingly similar drug names. The report urges a goal of cutting deaths in half in five years.

Global News Wire
Beirut Times
December 9, 1999
FT-ACC-NO: A20000121F7D-882-WR
MEDICAL MISTAKES TAKE THE LEAD IN HIGH FATALITIES

The Boston Globe
December 9, 1999, Thursday ,THIRD EDITION
Media Notes;
WHY EMBARGOES MAY AID WRITERS - AND READERS
The drive to beat the other guy to the big story is one of journalism's primal instincts. But NBC's desire to be first with the blockbuster news that medical errors kill between 44,000 and 98,000 people a year highlights how news consumers lose in the race for a scoop.
That finding - from last week's report by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine - was big news. It led the ABC and NBC newscast on Nov. 29, and it made Page 1 of The Washington Post and The New York Times the next morning. Given growing public interest in health news and the proliferation of headline-grabbing medical studies, the health beat has grown more cutthroat in recent years. And the Institute of Medicine's plans to roll out the report with media briefings dissolved into chaos when an NBC reporter, Robert Bazell, moved to preempt them with a leaked copy of the report.

The Boston Globe
December 9, 1999, Thursday ,THIRD EDITION
ELLEN GOODMAN Ellen Goodman is a Globe columnist.;
IN HOSPITALS, TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FESS UP IS NECESSARY
This one barely qualifies as a "whoopsie." I'd never have noted the little mishap if it hadn't happened to my own aunt or if it hadn't come in the wake of a report that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths occur from medical accidents every year.
There in the clinic was Mrs. Alexander, a.k.a. "the vertigo." She was one curtain away from Mrs. Fernandez, a.k.a. "the diabetes." But it was 15 minutes into the conversation before the pleasant doctor discovered that Mrs. A wasn't Mrs. F. Nothing happened, mind you. Mrs. A didn't get a shot of insulin. Mrs. F didn't get a CAT scan. The scramble was unscrambled, the charts switched, and everyone went to the seashore. But it was one of those reminders of the meaning behind the words that grace the title of the Institute of Medicine report: "To Err is Human."

The Christian Science Monitor
December 9, 1999, Thursday
USA
The US space agency said it will undertake a complete review of its Mars program, which has lost three spacecraft since 1993 - two of them in back-to-back failures over the past three months. Critics say the agency is trying to do too much with too little money, using smaller, less-expensive probes and launching them more often than in the past.
President Clinton took steps to prevent medical mistakes, directing an interagency task force to report back in 60 days on ways to cope with the problem. In addition, more than 300 private health plans that sell insurance to federal employees were told to take patient-safety initiatives. Federal agencies administering health plans for veterans, the military, and others are to evaluate and, if feasible, initiate steps to reduce medical mistakes. Last week, an Institute of Medicine report quoted estimates that such mistakes kill between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans annually.

The Denver Post
December 9, 1999 Thursday 1ST EDITION
LETTERS, FAXES & E-MAIL
Not alone with complaints about First USA
Re: 'First USA column unleashes flood of ire,' Dec. 2.
Add me to the list! After reading the article on the many complaints Denver-area consumers are having with First USA, I was comforted to see that I am not alone. In addition to the many things that have annoyed your readers, I would like to add the endless and annoying practice of calling their customer to solicit more business in other areas of their company. One cannot politely get rid of these intruders into our privacy and the only way to get removed from the list would be to terminate card membership.
Unfortunately, separating myself from First USA was not as easy as I had hoped. I called to do just that a few months ago, because I had grown tired of every aspect of being a First USA cardholder - one changed interest rate, one hidden fee, one solicitation, one problem after another. First USA informed that the other credit card I carried at the time, United Airlines Mileage Plus, had just been bought by First USA so I still had that one! Needless to say this was greatly disappointing.

Journal of Commerce
December 9, 1999, Thursday
Envision 65 Titanics
Few ships are as famous as the passenger liner Titanic. One thousand five hundred people died when it sank in 1912, a tragedy that has been the subject of books, movies and a Broadway hit musical.
National Journal's Congress Daily
December 9, 1999 5:55 pm
Dingell Likely To Unveil Bill To Reduce Medical Errors
House Commerce ranking member John Dingell, D-Mich., is likely to introduce a bill next year to reduce the occurrence of medical errors by hospitals, physicians and other medical professionals, according to Dennis Fitzgibbons, deputy director for the Commerce minority staff. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said earlier this week he plans to introduce a similar bill, and President Clinton said he is directing his staff to develop initiatives for his FY2001 budget proposal.

The Palm Beach Post
December 9, 1999, Thursday, FINAL EDITION
PUT HOSPITAL REPORTS ON STATE'S CRITICAL LIST
President Clinton acted promptly Tuesday to begin preventing deaths from medical errors. Florida officials didn't, showing the need for a federal reporting system.
Last week, the Institute of Medicine estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year due to medical mistakes - 7,000 from drug errors alone . This week, Mr. Clinton took several steps. He ordered the 300 private health plans that sell to 9 million federal employees to improve their safety standards. He earmarked $ 25 million for research into improving quality. He gave a task force 60 days to analyze the institute's report and study how misuse of drugs and medical devices causes errors. He ordered agencies that administer Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health plans that cover 85 million Americans to study ways to reduce errors. He said next year's budget will include the largest investment to eliminate preventable errors.

Agence France Presse
December 8, 1999 03:50 GMT
US to research into high level of deaths through medical error
The US government is to spend 25 million dollars to investigate why 44,000 to 98,000 people a year die due to medical error, President Bill Clinton announced Tuesday.
An Institute of Medicine (IOM) report published last week shocked the nation when it revealed "more people die from medical mistakes each year than highway accidents, breast cancer or AIDS" and prompted the government's move Tuesday.

CBS News Transcripts
SHOW: CBS MORNING NEWS (6:30 AM ET)
December 8, 1999, Wednesday
PRESIDENT CLINTON ORDERS ACTION ON DEADLY MEDICAL MISTAKES ON THE PART OF HEALTH-CARE PERSONNEL
JULIE CHEN, anchor:
A new study blaming tens of thousands of deaths each year on medical errors has caught a lot of people's attention, including President Clinton's. He's pushing a new plan to fix the problem, as Bill Plante reports.
BILL PLANTE reporting:
The news that so many Americans are dying each year because of medical mistakes brought a sharp reaction from the White House. Meeting with health-care providers, the president ordered new safety precautions.

Chattanooga Times / Chattanooga Free Press
December 8, 1999, Wednesday
Clinton Announces New Federal Rules for Reporting Medical Errors
WASHINGTON -- Doctors and the government have a moral obligation to report and correct medical mistakes that kill or injure thousands each year, President Clinton said Tuesday. He announced new steps to confront the problem -- and promised more money to improve accountability.
Clinton said he doubts that better reporting of medical errors will leave doctors and hospitals vulnerable to more lawsuits. But even if he's wrong, he said, they must feel free to reveal mistakes -- or what press secretary Joe Lockhart called "near misses," situations when medical professionals erred but did not kill the patient.

CNNFN
SHOW: TAKE IT PERSONALLY 17:30:00 pm ET
December 8, 1999; Wednesday 5:43 pm Eastern Time
Government Seeking Recommendations on Improving Patient Safety, CNNfn
LEAD:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Saying that ensuring patient safety is not about fixing blame, but fixing problems, President Clinton has thrown the force of the federal government behind a set of initiatives aimed at reducing costly, and sometimes fatal, medical mistakes.

The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
December 8, 1999, WEDNESDAY, FINAL EDITION
DOCTORS, GOVERNMENT OBLIGATED TO REPORT ERRORS, CLINTON SAYS
Doctors and the government have a moral obligation to report and correct medical mistakes that kill or injure thousands annually, President Clinton said Tuesday in announcing new steps to confront the problem.
Clinton said he doubts that better reporting of medical errors will leave doctors and hospitals vulnerable to lawsuits.

Dayton Daily News
December 8, 1999, Wednesday,
DOCTORS FACE ACCOUNTABILITY
WASHINGTON - Doctors and the government have a moral obligation to report and correct medical mistakes that kill or injure thousands each year, President Clinton said Tuesday. He announced new steps to confront the problem - and promised more money to improve accountability.

The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT)
December 8, 1999, Wednesday
SECTION: WIRE; Pg. A02
Clinton announces plan to reduce medical errors
WASHINGTON -- Doctors and the government have a moral obligation to report and correct medical mistakes that kill or injure thousands each year, President Clinton said Tuesday. He announced new steps to confront the problem -- and promised more money to improve accountability.
Clinton said he doubts that better reporting of medical errors will leave doctors and hospitals vulnerable to more lawsuits. But even if he's wrong, he said, they must feel free to reveal mistakes -- or what press secretary Joe Lockhart called "near misses," situations when medical professionals erred but did not kill the patient.

Los Angeles Times
December 8, 1999, Wednesday, Home Edition
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE;
HEALTH;
SAFEGUARDS TO REDUCE FATAL MEDICAL MISTAKES ANNOUNCED
Hospital leaders on Tuesday announced a nationwide campaign to reduce the number of fatal mistakes made by medical personnel--including steps such as putting an "X" on a patient's body where a surgeon is supposed to cut and using special colored labels on bottles of lethal drugs.
President Clinton also ordered the federal health programs that cover senior citizens, the poor and the military to use the latest techniques available to avoid errors.
The wave of attention to medical error comes one week after an Institute of Medicine report found that preventable mistakes kill 44,000 to 98,000 people a year and add $ 17 billion to $ 29 billion to the nation's health bill.
But the issue "is about far more than dollars or statistics, it's about the toll that such errors take on people's lives and on their faith in our health care system," Clinton said.

Medical Industry Today
December 8, 1999, Wednesday
Clinton Orders Steps to Cut Medical Errors in Wake of Report
President Clinton on Tuesday ordered that various steps be taken to reduce medical errors, with new safety initiatives and evaluation of new techniques among the required actions.
Clinton said that each of the more than 300 private health plans that sell insurance to federal employees will be required to institute quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, according to an Associated Press report. The White House reported the requirement will cover about 9 million federal workers, retirees and their dependents.

NBC News Transcripts
SHOW: DATELINE NBC (8:00 PM ET)
December 8, 1999, Wednesday
RX FOR CHANGE; ONE OF THE NATION'S LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IS MEDICAL MISTAKES
RX FOR CHANGE
Announcer: From our studios in Rockefeller Center, here again is Jane Pauley.
JANE PAULEY: One of the nations leading causes of death, we learned this week, is neither disease nor accident. And you are at greatest risk for it in a hospital or right in your doctors office. What is it? It's estimated that more people die every year from a medical mistake than from breast cancer, diabetes, or traffic accidents. Just yesterday, President Clinton ordered federal agencies to take steps to reduce medical error. And leading hospitals and doctor's groups promised to work with the administration. Here's chief medical corespondent Dr. Bob Arnot with the latest.
Unidentified Woman #1: He held my hand and he said, 'Ms. Quintera,' he said, 'Brandon was given the wrong medication, and he was given about four times too much.

The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC)
December 8, 1999 Wednesday, FINAL EDITION
Death by scribbling
People go to their doctors or the hospital to prolong their
lives, not to win a trip to the morgue. Yet a study by the
national Institute of Medicine says that 44,000 people (and
perhaps as many as 98,000) die every year as a result of medical
mistakes. Even using the lower figure, by this reckoning more
people die of such errors than from highway accidents or AIDS. In
response, the institute (an arm of the National Academy of
Sciences) offers thoughtful recommendations.

Newsday (New York, NY)
December 8, 1999, Wednesday ALL EDITIONS
CLINTON TO DOCTORS: BE ACCOUNTABLE / PROMISES FEDERAL MONEY FOR REPORTING OF MISTAKES
Washington-Doctors and the government have a moral obligation to report and correct medical mistakes that kill or injure thousands each year, President Bill Clinton said yesterday. He promised new federal money toward accountability.
Clinton said he doubts that better reporting of medical errors will leave doctors and hospitals vulnerable to more lawsuits. But even if he's wrong, he said, doctors and hospitals must feel free to reveal what he called "near misses," or situations when medical professionals erred but did not kill the patient.

Newsday (New York, NY)
December 8, 1999, Wednesday ALL EDITIONS
EDITORIAL / DEADLY ERRORS / COLLECT NATIONAL MEDICAL DATA TO ENSURE THAT DOCTORS LEARN FROM EACH OTHER'S MISTAKES.
If a stealthy, mysterious disease were killing 44,000 Americans a year-more than AIDS or breast cancer-you can bet some federal health agency would be on the case. Well, something like that is happening today; only the killer is not a virus or a tumor but the array of errors that doctors, nurses, hospitals and caregivers inadvertently make in the course of doing their complex and demanding jobs.
In fact, the annual toll from medical errors may be as high as 98,000, depending on whether you believe projections from New York or less frightening ones from Utah and Colorado, two other states with fairly strict reporting laws. The wide discrepancy suggests a need for more reliable data, so the most important single recommendation in a new report from the Institute of Medicine is for the federal government to set up, in an Office of Patient Safety, a mandatory reporting system for medical errors that endanger life or limb. Many hospitals already have similar reporting systems, and so do some states, including New York. It lets them learn from their own mistakes, but a national system would make it possible to learn from other people's mistakes as well.
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
December 8, 1999, Wednesday, POST AND COURIER EDITION
Clinton stresses need to fix medical errors
BY:Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Doctors and the government have a moral obligation to report and correct medical mistakes that kill or injure thousands each year, President Clinton said Tuesday. He announced new steps to confront the problem - and promised more money to improve accountability.
Clinton said he doubts that better reporting of medical errors will leave doctors and hospitals vulnerable to more lawsuits. But even if he's wrong, he said, they must feel free to reveal mistakes - or what press secretary Joe Lockhart called near misses, situations when medical professionals erred but did not kill the patient.

The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
December 8, 1999, WEDNESDAY; ALL EDITIONS
CLINTON UNVEILS NEW RULES ON MEDICALACCOUNTABILITY
Doctors and the government have a moral obligation to report and
correct medical mistakes that kill or injure thousands each year,
President Clinton said Tuesday. He announced new steps to confront the
problem, and promised more money for accountability programs.
COUNTRY: UNITED STATES (52%);

TOPEKA CAPITAL JOURNAL
December 8, 1999, Wednesday
Dose of good news
TOPEKA MEDICINE
Getting a mechanical probe to Mars some 140 million miles away is rocket science. Getting prescription drugs in the right hands down the hall is not.

The Toronto Star
December 8, 1999, Wednesday, Edition 1
U.S. ADOPTS PLAN TO 'X' OUT COSTLY LETHAL MEDICAL ERRORS

WASHINGTON - U.S. hospital leaders yesterday announced a national campaign to reduce the number of fatal mistakes made by medical personnel - including steps such as putting an ''X'' on a patient's body where a surgeon is supposed to cut and using special coloured labels on bottles of lethal drugs.
President Bill Clinton also ordered the federal health programs that cover senior citizens, the poor and the military to use the latest techniques available to avoid errors.
The wave of attention to medical error comes one week after an Institute of Medicine report found that preventable mistakes kill 44,000 to 98,000 people in the United States a year and add $17 billion (U.S.) to $29 billion to the American health bill.

The Washington Times
December 08, 1999, Wednesday, Final Edition
SECTION: PART A; NATION; Pg. A6
Clinton exhorts doctors, government to report, correct thousands of errors
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Doctors and the government have a moral obligation to report and correct medical mistakes that kill or injure thousands each year, President Clinton said yesterday.
He announced steps to confront the problem - and promised more money to improve accountability.
Mr. Clinton said he doubts that better reporting of medical errors will leave doctors and hospitals vulnerable to more lawsuits.

The Washington Times
December 08, 1999, Wednesday, Final Edition
SECTION: PART A; COMMENTARY; Pg. A12
Optimism in the face of errors
No doubt, most of us board a plane or get into a car with more sense of personal risk than we think of on entering a hospital - a destination we choose for safe care.
Yet a recent Institute of Medicine report, which showed 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year from medical errors in hospitals, suddenly reverses the perception of relative risk. That news sparked an immediate response in Washington. Bill Clinton asked a task force to report back with reform suggestions. Republican Sens James Jeffords of Vermont and Bill Frist, a heart surgeon from Tennessee, considered holding hearings. And Sen. Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, began drafting legislation. The realization that these figures rival the number of deaths from highway accidents is startling.

Chicago Tribune
December 8, 1999 Wednesday, CHICAGO SPORTS FINAL EDITION
MEDICAL ERRORS TO BE REVIEWED;
CLINTON ORDERS PANEL TO MAP SAFETY CHANGES
Physicians and the government have a moral obligation to report and correct medical mistakes that kill or injure thousands each year, President Clinton said Tuesday.

CBS News Transcripts
SHOW: CBS EVENING NEWS (6:30 PM ET)
December 7, 1999, Tuesday
PRESIDENT CLINTON ORDERS ACTION ON DEADLY MEDICAL MISTAKES ON THE PART OF HEALTH-CARE PERSONNEL
DAN RATHER, anchor:
President Clinton ordered action today on a problem that kills as many as 98,000 Americans each year, medical mistakes by hospitals, by doctors, by pharmacists and by patients. For starters, the president ordered health insurance plans covering nine million federal workers to monitor for drug prescription and dosage mistakes; mistakes that are deadly and preventable. CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante has more about the impact of this, medical, financial, and political.

CNN
SHOW: CNN TODAY 13:00 pm ET
December 7, 1999; Tuesday 1:01 pm Eastern Time
President Clinton Calls for Cessation of Deadly Medical Mistakes
LEAD:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: They kill as many as 98,000 Americans every year, and President Clinton says they must be stopped. They are medical mistakes, and last week the Institute of Medicine reported they kill more people every year, perhaps more than twice as many people as breast cancer, traffic accidents or AIDS.

CNN
SHOW: CNN INSIDE POLITICS 17:00 pm ET
December 7, 1999; Tuesday 5:00 pm Eastern Time
Candidates Avoid Attacks in GOP Presidential Debate; Bush Asserts He Is Qualified to Be President; John McCain Delivers Remarks on the Military
LEAD:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm just trying to give my vision one minute at a time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: George W. Bush sums up his second presidential debate performance. Did the vision theme come across?

CNN
SHOW: CNN THE WORLD TODAY 20:00 pm ET
December 7, 1999; Tuesday 8:15 pm Eastern Time
President Clinton Takes on Problem of Medical Mistakes
LEAD:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Here in Washington, President Clinton took on the often overlooked problem of medical mistakes. His actions follows last week's report by the Institute of Medicine, which claims tens of thousands of people die each year from medical errors.

CNN
SHOW: CNN INSIDE POLITICS 17:20 pm ET
December 7, 1999; Tuesday 5:29 pm Eastern Time
President Clinton Demands Safer Medical Care for Federal Employees
LEAD:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: Federal employees will be getting safer health care. Last week, a government study showed medical errors kill as many as 98,000 people a year. Now President Clinton is demanding new safety standards for plans that cover federal employees.

The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
December 7, 1999, TUESDAY, FINAL EDITION
CUTTING MEDICAL ERRORS IS 'DOABLE';
LOCAL HOSPITALS WORK TO CURB MISTAKES
"I will prescribe regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone." - The Hippocratic oath
Centuries after Hippocrates formulated those principles, medicine still struggles to protect the very patients who turn to the profession for help.
At Methodist Healthcare- Memphis Hospitals, that means a robot now helps dispense drugs.
At the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporations, it means newly hired registered nurses must pass a competency and skills test.

The New York Times
December 7, 1999, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final
PUBLIC LIVES;
The Health Profession Is His Worst Patient
DURING the dozen years he worked in emergency rooms, Dr. Mark Chassin must have won high marks for his bedside manner. Because even when he is agitated, his voice rarely registers above a reassuring whisper, the kind you hear on classical radio stations in the middle of the night when the D.J. is introducing Debussy.
The voice comes in especially handy these days, as Dr. Chassin finds himself attending to another kind of patient, one that can be notoriously resistant to treatment: the health profession itself.

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL

December 7, 1999 Tuesday, METRO
DOSE OF REALITY: AMERICAN MEDICINE MORE DANGEROUS THAN GUNS
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor killed about 3,000 Americans. On the day before the anniversary, the Institute of Medicine released a report that states doctors and hospitals kill 44,000 to 98,000 Americans per year by mistake.
Well, well, well, what do you think of that? Apparently American medicine is more dangerous than firearms. Firearms accidents (read mistakes) kill about 1,400 people. In fact the death toll from accidents, homicides and suicides is lower than the low-end number killed by medical mistakes.

THE PANTAGRAPH (Bloomington, IL.)
December 7, 1999, Tuesday
Medical errors must decrease, be reported to central source

A study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences has concluded preventable medical errors cause tens of thousands of deaths each year in America.
That is shocking revelation. It should prompt action by the medical establishment and, if necessary, by the federal government.
Research suggests that in hospitals alone, medical errors kill 44,000 to 98,000 patients a year. The numbers have enough shock value to attract attention to a problem, even if the numbers have been questioned by hospital officials. The death figures exceed the number of people who die annually from highway accidents (43,450), breast cancer (43,300) or AIDS (16,500).

PR Newswire
December 7, 1999, Tuesday
Clinton Focus on Medication Errors Helps Allscripts;
Executive Memorandum Promotes Electronic Prescribing to Reduce Medication Errors
President Clinton signed an Executive Memorandum today that will create a task force to focus on increasing the use of electronic prescribing tools, such as those provided by Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX), as one step to reduce medication errors. This action by the President was in response to a recent Institute of Medicine report that estimated between 44,000 and 98,000 patients die each year because of medical mistakes. Among the greatest causes identified were fulfillment mistakes due illegible handwriting, vast amounts of medical knowledge required of physicians today, and lack of a coordinated communication system between care providers.
"Over 25% of the errors identified through studies and papers are related to drug name mix ups caused by poor physician handwriting," according to Michael Cohen, President of the Institute of Safe Medication Practices, a non-profit organization focused on reducing medical errors. "Fortunately, we now have the means to solve this problem with point of care electronic prescribing products that are being rolled out nationally. Within the next five years, every prescription should be created and routed electronically."
The newly formed task force will study all forms of medication errors and recommend different solutions. Allscripts' TouchScript(R) Personal Prescriber(TM), the first fully functional hand-held electronic prescribing solution, currently being used by thousands of physicians nationwide, solves many of the problems that exist today. It is the only product on the market that enables physicians to electronically route the prescription to any local retail, mail order or Internet pharmacy the patient chooses, completely removing the need and risks associated with handwritten prescriptions.

The Tampa Tribune
December 7, 1999, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION
Toward reducing medical errors;

The National Academy of Sciences has confirmed the perception of a growing number of experts that the quality of medical care is not what it could be.
The academy's Institute of Medicine reported that medical errors cause tens of thousands of deaths each year, that the estimated 44,000 to 98,000 people who die because of medical mistakes tops the number of patients who succumb to AIDs, breast cancer or traffic injuries.
THE 19-MEMBER PANEL that conducted the study recommends that Congress spend between $ 30 million and $ 35 million to create a Center for Patient Safety to develop new tools and systems to address persistent problems and to act as a clearinghouse for providing the latest information about medical safety to the nation.
In a statement, the chairman of the panel, William C. Richardson, called the number of errors "stunningly high" and "unacceptable in a medical system that promises first to "do no harm.' "

TULSA WORLD
December 7, 1999
Sick system Report highlights health-care deficiencies
It is one of everyone's worst fears: to enter the hospital, perhaps for some minor, routine procedure, and end up dead. For tens of thousands of Americans a year, it is a nightmare that comes true.
A report issued recently by the Institute of Medicine reviewed a number of studies on hospital-related deaths and concluded that at least 44,000 and perhaps as many as 98,000 hospitalized Americans die each year from medical mistakes.

United Press International
December 7, 1999, Tuesday
UPI Spotlight;
Clinton attacks medical errors
President Clinton planned Tuesday to direct federal health insurers to initiate new safeguards to avoid mistakes that injure or kill a patient. The Institute of Medicine recently reported that between 44,000 and 98,000 persons are killed each year through fatal errors in health care.

USA TODAY
December 7, 1999, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION
Medical errors targeted
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton and members of Congress are moving
quickly to implement recommendations in an Institute of Medicine
report last week that found up to 98,000 Americans a year are
killed by medical mistakes.
Clinton will announce executive actions today aimed at reducing
the rate of medical errors for patients in the Medicare, Medicaid,
Veterans' Administration and federal employees' health care systems.

The Washington Post

December 7, 1999, Tuesday, Final Edition
Clinton to Urge Steps to Curb Medical Errors
President Clinton plans to announce steps today to curb dangerous medical errors, including a requirement that all 300 health plans insuring federal workers must adopt new safeguards to avoid accidents that can injure or kill patients.
Clinton also will direct every agency that runs government health programs--including those for children, veterans, the military, and people who are elderly or poor--to explore additional ways to improve patients' safety. And he will ask advisers to include initiatives designed to reduce medical mistakes in the budget that the administration is preparing to send to Congress early next year.

Chain Drug Review
December 6, 1999
Privacy Issue Comes to Fore; Brief Article
The Clinton administration has made public its plan to deal with the issue of protecting patient privacy. Once again, one might conclude that developments have proven that market forces moving swiftly in concert with public sentiment will prompt politicians to take action.
Market forces are indeed moving swiftly. Once having achieved critical mass in the computerization of medical records, it is very likely that observers will look back on the paper-based systems of today and wonder how we ever got along so clumsily and inefficiently.

Copley News Service
December 6, 1999, Monday 11:31 Eastern Time
Lethal doctors?
According to a study released by the Institute of Medicine, the medical arm of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, more people die every year of medical ''errors'' during hospitalization than in highway accidents. The academy recommends, among other things, the creation of a giant new federal bureaucracy to police hospitals to reduce the number of these supposedly preventable deaths. But its suggestion is, quite literally, overkill.

Dayton Daily News
December 6, 1999, Monday,
TOLL FROM FATAL MEDICAL ERRORS UNCLEAR
CLEVELAND - Death certificates show that medical errors such as drug overdoses and contaminated blood contributed to the deaths of 66 patients at Ohio hospitals from 1995 to 1997, The Plain Dealer reported Sunday.
But that number may not represent the actual number of fatal medical errors occurring at Ohio's health care facilities because hospitals are not required to report their mistakes to the state, the newspaper reported.
A report issued a week ago by the Institute of Medicine estimated that at least 44,000 and perhaps as many as 98,000 Americans die every year from medical mistakes.

Liability Week
December 6, 1999
PANEL CALLS FOR REPORTS ON HEALTH CARE MISTAKES.
"The knowledgeable health reporter for the Boston Globe, Betsy Lehman, died from an overdose during chemotherapy," begins the report by the Institute of Medicine's Quality of Health Care Committee.
"Willie King had the wrong leg amputated. Ben Kolb was eight years old when he died during 'minor' surgery due to a drug mix-up.
"These horrific cases that make the headlines are just the tip of the iceberg," the report continues, adding that extrapolating results from two large studies in New York and Colorado would lead to estimates that from 44,000 to 98,000
Americans die each years as a result of medical errors.

Medicine & Health
December 6, 1999
Iffy Prospects For Medical Error Agency ...
Without accountability and sharply defined goals, will the nation's current anxiety over medical error amount to much more than hand wringing? No, declare quality improvement experts convened by the Institute of Medicine. But they face tough going with their proposal for a federal Center for Patient Safety to highlight promising error reduction strategies and to turn a spotlight on whether providers are making true progress against medical errors.
The IoM's handling of the medical error problem has generated enough press and public attention, however, to warrant a spot for the issue on the congressional agenda next year. IoM panel chair William Richardson called the error rate "stunningly high;" the IoM study said that medical error kills more people in hospitals yearly in the U.S. - between 44,000 and 98,000 -- than die from AIDS (16,516), motor vehicle accidents (43,458), or breast cancer (42,297).

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 6, 1999, Monday All
Mistakes abound
At least 44,000 and perhaps as many as 98,000 hospitalized Americans die every year from medical mistakes, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine, which recommended major changes to the nation's health care system and set a goal of cutting the number of medical mistakes in half within five years.
"Errors can be prevented by designing systems that make it hard for people to do the wrong thing and easy for people to do the right thing," said William Richardson, president of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, who co-authored the report.

Modern Healthcare
December 6, 1999, Monday
For the record
* Patient-care errors kill thousands. Errors in patient care kill an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 Americans per year, topping breast cancer, automobile accidents and AIDs as a cause of death, according to an Institute of Medicine report released last week. Calling the error rate "simply unacceptable," the institute is urging Congress to create a National Center for Patient Safety, which would track errors and study safety improvements. The institute also wants mandatory reporting of all errors that lead to serious injuries or deaths.

The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
December 6, 1999, Monday, POST AND COURIER EDITION
S.C. has procedures to probe medical errors
Bad handwriting can be dangerous, especially when it belongs to a physician.
That problem was one of the more common causes of medical mistakes listed in a report released last week, which estimated that medical errors lead to as many as 98,000 deaths nationwide each year.
Local and state medical officials say the report was a reminder that everybody makes mistakes. "Even the best doctor has a bad day," said Aaron Kozloski, administrator for the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
December 6, 1999, Monday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Strip malls won't save the city
I am writing in response to the Nov. 26 letter, "Preservationism infects St. Louis," from a former (and hopefully, soon, future) Westerner. Talk about failure to see the big picture. The letter writer implies that St. Louisans should stop whining about redevelopment plans that threaten our historical places and buildings and allow progress to work its magic.
If this means razing crumbling warehouses to make room for new industries then most of us, I believe, would agree. However, if this means destroying sound structures with glass and steel or wood-frame homes then the results would be disastrous.

Daily News (New York)
December 5, 1999, Sunday SPORTS FINAL
Seven Days The Last Word On Last Week
Attack of the killer hospitalsConfirming the worst fears millions of patients and their families, a new studyby the National Academy of Sciences found that a lot of sick people who go tothe hospital with the realistic hope of getting better, get dead instead.Medical mistakes kill from 44,000 to 98,000 hospitalized Americans a year, theacademy's Institute of Medicine reported. "These stunningly high rates ofmedical errors... are simply unacceptable in a medical system that promisesfirst to 'do no harm,'" said William Richardson, chairman of the panel thatconducted the study. The group proposed the creation of a new federal agency,the Center for Patient Safety, to tackle the widespread problem of deadlyhospitals. Among other factors contributing to the unnecessary deaths, thereport cited such fundamental flaws as indecipherable handwriting by doctors,too many drug names that sound alike and poor documentation and analysis ofmost of the mistakes that occur. "To err is human, but errors can be prevented," the report said.ONCE UPON A TIMETHERE WAS A TOURIST WHO REALLY HAD TO GO...There's a whole new reason to avoid public bathrooms. A Toronto man suedStarbucks for $1.5 million claiming his penis was crushed by a faulty toiletseat. In court papers, Edward Skwarek, 38, said he was taking care of businessin the men's room of the coffee emporium at Sixth Ave. and 22nd St. inManhattan last August when his member became trapped between the loose seatand the bowl as he turned to reach for the toilet paper.

Los Angeles Times
December 5, 1999, Sunday, Home Edition
DEATHS FROM MEDICAL ERROR
* The Institute of Medicine issued a highly critical report stating that between 44,000 and 98,000 people each year die as a result of medical errors (Nov. 30). The report points out that although there is no "magic bullet" solution to the problem of medical errors, a combination of fundamental changes is warranted.

The New York Times
December 5, 1999, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
Ideas & Trends: Do No Harm;
Breaking Down Medicine's Culture of Silence
DR. MICHAEL LEONARD, an anesthesiologist and chief of surgery for Kaiser Permanente in Denver, was operating on a cancer patient a few months ago when he reached into a drawer for medicine. Inside were two vials, side by side. Both had yellow labels. Both had yellow caps. One was a paralyzing agent, which Dr. Leonard had correctly administered to keep the patient still during the operation. The other was the reversal agent, which he needed next. "I grabbed the wrong one," Dr. Leonard recalled. "I used the wrong drug."
It would have been easy for the doctor to keep quiet; the drug wore off and the patient was not harmed. Instead, he talked -- to the surgeon and scrub nurses, the patient's wife and the hospital pharmacist, who has since relabeled the paralyzing agents with red stickers and put them in a separate drawer. He also talked to his five partners, whose reaction unnerved him.

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL

December 5, 1999 Sunday, METRO
NO QUICK FIX FOR MEDICAL ERRORS;
BUT SEVERAL OPTIONS, INCLUDING THE CREATION OF A PATIENT-SAFETY CENTER, ABOUND, EXPERTS SAY.
Now that a panel of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine has bluntly announced that errors made during health care needlessly injure and kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, what can be done to improve the system that delivers care?
If its recommendations are an indication, ways exist to begin attacking medical errors almost as if they were a disease. Based on estimates, errors are among the eight leading causes of death in the United States, outpacing auto accidents, breast cancer and AIDS.

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
The Philadelphia Inquirer
December 5, 1999, Sunday
Panel recommends several initiatives to attack medical errors
Now that a panel of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine has bluntly announced that errors made during health care needlessly injure and kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, what can be done to improve the system that delivers care?
If its recommendations are an indication, there is a broad array of initiatives available to begin attacking medical errors almost as if they were a disease. Indeed, based on estimates, such errors are among the eight leading causes of death in the United States, outpacing auto accidents, breast cancer and AIDS.
For this condition, however, there is plenty of hope. In its lengthy report on Monday, a panel formed by the institute (which is a division of the National Academy of Sciences) said there was no "magic bullet" but recommended a number of steps to take.

The Plain Dealer

December 5, 1999 Sunday, FINAL / ALL
HOSPITAL MISTAKES ARE DEADLY IN OHIO;
TOTAL NUMBER OF ERRORS UNKNOWN, EXPERTS SAY
Medical errors contributed to the deaths of 66 patients at Ohio hospitals from 1995 to 1997, according to state records.
The mistakes, which included drug overdoses, contaminated blood, unsterile dialysis machines and unintended puncture wounds, may not represent the actual number of fatal medical errors occurring at health care facilities across the state, however.

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE (RIVERSIDE, CA.)
December 05, 1999, Sunday
EDITORIALS
Investing in education reform
Too often, the drive behind pioneering research is sapped by the
draining work of winning grants to keep the project going. The Bank
of America's $ 1 million endowment to UC Riverside avoids that
worry. A gift of this magnitude makes hand-to-mouth cares fall
away. It enables the university to launch programs which, as
Education Dean Robert Calfee put it, "will then gain a life and
vigor on their own." It's a gift that maximizes bang for the buck.
Specifically, the gift will endow efforts to help educators in
Riverside and San Bernardino counties make practical sense out of
the test scores and other figures that have quickly become a
cascading data stream.

Roanoke Times & World News
December 5, 1999, Sunday, METRO EDITION
PROTECT PATIENTS' LIVES
EXPLAINABLE human error, rather than gross recklessness, is at the root of the shockingly high numbers of deaths the Institute of Medicine blames on medical mistakes each year in the United States.
Within that distinction lies the promise of quick and dramatic, which is not to say easy or painless, improvement.
The prestigious institute, part of the National Academy of Sciences, reports at least 44,000 Americans, and possibly as many as 98,000, die each year in hospitals as the result of all-too-common mistakes, such as misdiagnoses, procedures done in error and, most common, administration of the wrong drug or the wrong dosage of a drug.

Wisconsin State Journal
December 5, 1999, Sunday, ALL EDITIONS
WHEN MEDICAL MISTAKES ARE MADE; MEDICATION ERRORS ACCOUNT FOR A STUNNINGLY HIGH NUMBER OF DEATHS EACH YEAR.; WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Like a can of peaches, patients at St. Mary's Hospital may wear a bar code come spring.
Russ Jensen, St. Mary's pharmacy director, said last week the hospital has agreed to test a new bedside scan system designed by a fledgling California company to reduce medication errors.
But Jensen said it would be far better to have a system in which the doctor directly enters the prescription, eliminating the possibilities of errors through illegible handwriting, drugs that have similar names and dosage numbers that can be read incorrectly.
Awareness of the number of medication errors that occur in hospitals is growing.

CNN
SHOW: CNN YOUR HEALTH 14:30 pm ET
December 4, 1999; Saturday 2:30 pm Eastern Time
New Report Shows Increasing Number of Medical Mistakes; Scientists Map Makings of the Human Body; Community hit hard by AIDS Takes New Approach to Fight
LEAD:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Today on YOUR HEALTH, medical mistakes, a new report shows they're happening all too often, and with deadly consequences. We'll take a look at what's going wrong and what's being done about it.
Plus, mapping the makings of the human body. Scientists take a big step toward a better understanding of how our bodies work.

The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
December 4, 1999, Saturday, SATURDAY EDITION
Ways to curb medical mistakes
I was 18 and a college sophomore when the debilitating migraine headaches started. I've tried every suggestion - from medicine, to diet, to acupuncture, to prevent, cure or decrease those horrendous pains.
Back in 1976, yet another medication was prescribed and then filled at the drugstore. Knowing that any relief would not be immediate, I took the regular doses - and waited. Within days, I was feeling great. My energy level was at an all-time high. I was more productive than usual and in a great mood, and I was losing weight without real effort.

The Times Union (Albany, NY)
December 4, 1999, Saturday, ONE STAR EDITION
A few opinionated opinions
The disruptive demonstrations at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle were a surprise to most Americans and sort of a mystery, too. It's hard to understand what all the fuss is about because protesters seem to have a variety of complaints.
I think one issue is simple, though. The big labor unions are afraid that manufacturers will be taking even more jobs away from Americans by having more of the hard work that they used to do done in poor countries where labor is cheap.

American Health Line
December 3, 1999
MEDICAL ERRORS: CONGRESS SCHEDULES HEARINGS
Sen. James Jeffords (R-VT), chair of the Senate Health and Education Committee, announced that a bi-partisan group of senators will hold a hearing to develop policies to reduce medical mistakes, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Jeffords' statement comes in response to Monday's Institute of Medicine release -- which reported that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die from medical mistakes each year. Saying a "comprehensive approach to improving patient safety and quality is needed," Jeffords insisted that the high number of "accidental fatalities and injuries" must be reduced. In addition, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said that the Senate subcommittee on appropriations also would hold hearings on the issue to determine what expenditures would be appropriate to "attack the problem of medical errors." Specter, who chairs the subcommittee, noted, "I think it's a matter of enormous importance." Specter also stated that he would support mandatory reporting and public disclosure of any medical error that seriously harmed or killed a patient. Moreover, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) announced that he would develop and sponsor a bill to reduce medical errors, while Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) stated that his staff would begin exploring legislative measures as well. Lieberman noted, "Congress may need to take additional, bolder steps to better protect America's patients." The congressional announcements come as no surprise to some, as Molly Joel Coye, member of the Institute of Medicine study panel, noted, "This is a serious national issue and I would be surprised if we did not have a series of high-level policy discussions and debates over what the best response will be."

Austin American-Statesman
December 3, 1999, Friday
SECTION: Editorial; Pg. A15
The fatal flaws in our medical system
On an impulse, just before bedtime, she decided to read mail that had accumulated during a short Thanksgiving trip. The decision did not promote slumber.
"Your mammogram has identified a questionable area in your breast," the letter from an Austin medical facility said. "Additional imaging evaluation" was suggested.

The Columbian (Vancouver, WA.)
December 3, 1999, Friday
H20 RULES,
OOPS! SORRY!
Clark County residents overwhelmingly support steps to save endangered salmon even if they're not quite sure what those steps should be.
That's one interpretation of results from a recent opinion poll commissioned by the county and the city of Vancouver. Seventy-three percent of the 415 respondents surveyed in October rated salmon recovery among their highest priorities; more than a third placed it at the very top.
The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points. It mirrors similar surveys, both regionally and nationally, which show overwhelming support for a clean environment for people and wildlife.

Copley News Service
December 3, 1999, Friday 11:37 Eastern Time
Fatal health care syndrome
The number of fatal errors committed by health care professionals in this country every year is shocking. But the Institute of Medicine, which issued a report on the topic recently, has proposed potentially effective remedies.
The institute is part of the National Academy of Sciences, a private organization of scientists chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific concerns. Its report indicated that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die and $8.8 billion each year is spent because of preventable medical mistakes.

Omaha World-Herald
December 3, 1999, Friday SUNRISE EDITION
Fatal Health-Care Syndrome
The number of fatal errors committed by health-care professionals in this country every year is shocking. But the Institute of Medicine, which issued a report on the topic Monday, has proposed potentially effective remedies.
The institute is part of the National Academy of Sciences, a private organization of scientists chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific concerns. Its report indicated that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die and $ 8.8 billion each year is spent because of preventable medical mistakes.

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
The Philadelphia Inquirer
December 3, 1999, Friday
Bipartisan group of senators calls for action to reduce medical errors
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is calling for hearings and legislation to develop policies to reduce the tens of thousands of deaths and injuries caused by medical errors every year.
Sen. James M. Jeffords, R., Vt., saying that the high number of accidental fatalities and injuries must be reduced, announced that the Senate Health and Education Committee will hold hearings when Congress returns from its recess on Jan. 24.
Jeffords, who is chairman of the committee, said that "a comprehensive approach to improving patient safety and quality is needed."
Sen. Arlen Specter, R., Pa., said the Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations would also hold hearings to determine what expenditures would be needed to attack the medical error problem.

The Tampa Tribune
December 3, 1999, Friday, FINAL EDITION
Board of Medicine to review mistakes;

TAMPA - Three area doctors agree to discipline for surgical mistakes, and a decision on a fourth area doctor may be reached by the state board.
Nearly five years ago, Tampa became known nationally as the place where a surgeon mistakenly amputated the wrong foot.
As the Florida Board of Medicine meets today, it appears that reputation isn't going away soon.
The board expects to consider allegations that four area doctors either operated on the wrong body part or performed the wrong procedure. The cases are among seven such incidents before the board this weekend; the state reports the panel usually sees about eight cases in an entire year.

The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle
December 2, 1999, Thursday, ALL EDITIONS
DEADLY M.D. REPORT
The Institute of Medicine report that medical mistakes kill more hospital patients than traffic accidents, breast cancer or AIDS is appalling.
Our community, which hosts four hospitals, Veterans' Administration medical facilities and Fort Gordon's Eisenhower Medical Center, could be affected more than most, though we believe they are far better than the average.
Mistakes, such as careless surgery, faulty or unreadable prescriptions and wrong dispensing of medications cost at least 44,000 and possibly as many as 98,000 lives per year.

Facts on File World News Digest
December 2, 1999
Medical Errors' Toll Cited.
Errors made by health care providers caused between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths per year in the U.S., a committee of the Institute of Medicine estimated in a report released November 29. The institute, part of the National Academy of Sciences, called in its report for the creation of a new federal agency to promote goals for reducing deaths caused by such mistakes.

Newsday (New York, NY)
December 2, 1999, Thursday NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION
AN RX FOR QUALITY OF CARE / HMO DEFENDER WANTS DISCIPLINED DOCTORS TO BE LISTED
One of the most powerful defenders of the managed care health insurance industry is now saying insurers should disclose more information to customers-including any state disciplinary actions against doctors for medical wrongdoing-as a way to improve America's health care quality.
Karen Ignagni, president of the American Association of Health Plans, said a highly publicized study that found tens of thousands die each year from medical mistakes in hospitals punctuates the need for insurers and government regulators to improve health care quality standards.
"We believe the information that is being compiled about physicians-particularly with disciplinary and malpractice histories-should also be available to the public," said Ignagni, the industry's top lobbyist who built her reputation fending off managed care reform bills in Congress and in state legislatures. "I think you're going to see a very strong trend in this direction." Currently, none of the nation's largest HMOs discloses such information to customers. Insurers generally provide information in their directories about a doctor's credentials, without disclosure of any past problems.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 2, 1999, Thursday, SOONER EDITION
PAGE 1 CORRECTION
Efforts by Rep. William Coyne, D-Oakland, to produce legislation dealing with medication errors died in 1995 after the Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The date was reported incorrectly in a headline in yesterday's editions.
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While most of the attention given to a new national report on medical mistakes has focused on the thousands of people who die from them, the real challenge in fixing the problem is how to get doctors and hospitals to report their errors, experts said yesterday.
One solution proposed by the Institute of Medicine study this week was to create a nationwide system to report "adverse events" in hospitals. It said such events may kill anywhere from 44,000 to 98,000 patients a year.

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
San Jose Mercury News
December 2, 1999, Thursday
Nationwide monitoring of medical errors would mean expansion of Calif. system
SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The call this week for nationwide monitoring of medical errors likely would mean the expansion of a tracking system already required by law in California.
The report, released by the Institutes of Medicine, blamed as many as 98,000 deaths each year on medical error. Some experts in the state's agencies said many of the report's suggestions mirrored California regulations.