Although error and adverse event mean different things, the terms are often muddled in the error movement, and the public may be led to believe that eliminating errors will eliminate adverse events. Finally, there is the word death . All deaths are not the same. This is how the publicists communicate the magnitude of the medical error problem. Talking about death in the medical care system this way, however, is at best misleading.
Many people die, most after contact with the health care system.
But the impact of deaths from errors on overall life expectancy is small. To equate this cause of death with the traumatic death of healthy individuals is disingenuous. Missing the Mark Despite the loose language, the error movement has at its core some powerful ideas about how to improve care and has achieved demonstrable success in some areas. Errors in decision making are widespread. If, in response, we increasingly use the hospital, the cath lab, the operating room, the chemotherapy suite, and the radiation facility, we will subject people to real risk with little, if any, opportunity for benefit.