The Rise of Patient Safety Organizations

The 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, “To Err Is Human,” brought patient safety to the forefront with its alarming findings, most jarringly encapsulated in its conclusion that medical error-related deaths in the United States are the equivalent of crashing one jumbo jet per day. L.T. Kohn, J.M. Corrigan, and M.S. Donaldson, eds., “To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System” (National Academies Press, 1999). According to the IOM's report, one factor underlying the high rate of medical errors has been a reluctance on the part of providers to identify and address medical errors due to concerns that such information would be used against them in medical malpractice lawsuits or professional disciplinary actions.