In a report issued last year, the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said medical errors killed as many as 98,000 Americans each year. The report said that as many as 7,000 deaths were attributable to medication errors, which include the prescribing or dispensing of the wrong drugs. By contrast, about 6,000 people die each year in workplace injuries. But the problem is more than a matter of labeling. Pharmacists sometimes misread doctors' handwriting.
Many drugs have names that sound alike, causing confusion for doctors and nurses.
And in a fragmented health care system, doctors often do not know what other drugs their patients are taking.