In basic terms, a medical error is an adverse event caused by medical management and resulting in measurable disability. Errors can include problems in practice, products, procedures, and systems. But not all bad outcomes for patients are due to medical errors. Patients may not be cured of their disease or disability despite the fact that they are provided the very best of care. Also, adverse events that arise from medical care are not necessarily errors.
Medical errors are one of the nation's leading causes of death and injury.
Evidence regarding the existence and amount of medical errors has been around since the early 1990s. The recent IOM report on medical errors was the first document to bring this issue to in front of the media, the public and the government. However, as long as there has been medicine and doctors, errors or the potential for errors has existed. There is no comprehensive medical error tracking system in place and many errors go unreported. The IOM report on medical errors lays out a comprehensive strategy for government, industry, consumers, and health providers to reduce medical errors, and it calls on Congress to create a national patient safety center to develop new tools and systems needed to address persistent problems.