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House approves Medical Error Database legislation

LTC Liability Monitor, August 4, 2005

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 428-3 in favor of a bill that would create the country's first national network for reporting, analyzing, and correcting medical errors, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Medical errors, such as giving residents the wrong medications, account for roughly 40,000 to 98,000 preventable deaths every year, and hospitals and SNFs are the places at which the errors are most likely to occur. The bill would also safeguard the confidentiality of healthcare providers who reported problems, and the reports would be inadmissible in malpractice suits and both workplace and professional disciplinary proceedings. The Senate has already approved an identical bill, and the legislation now heads to President Bush, who is expected to sign it, reported the Times.

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