In 1999, the Institute of Medicine released a study estimating that between 44,000 and 97,000 persons die each year as a result of medical errors. Public Citizen, a consumer action group, estimated that 1.3 million injuries are caused by medical negligence, annually.
Medical errors occur in all phases of practice.
Emergency Room doctors and staff may fail to properly diagnose injuries. Nurses or pharmacists may inadvertently provide incorrect medication or fail to provide the proper dosage. Surgeons may make errors in the course of their procedures that cause serious, and sometimes fatal, injuries. In other cases, doctors fail to provide the proper care for the condition, even though they have properly diagnosed it. This is the recognized procedure for diagnosing and treating illnesses and injuries.