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Docs' fears of reporting errors lifted by new law

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, August 4, 2005

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The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 was signed into law by President Bush on Friday, paving the way to what many people hope will be a reduction in medical mistakes and improvement in medical treatments.

The new law allows providers to report their errors without fear of the information being used against them in lawsuits, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Although error reporting is still voluntary, the new law removes what providers said was a major hurdle to reporting such errors.

The lack of reporting has lead to poor gathering of data on medical errors. The need for improving the data became evident following a study conducted by the Institute of Medicine in 1999 that indicated as many as 98,000 people die each year as a result of medical errors.

In the signing ceremony at the White House, Bush said the new law will help researchers obtain more accurate information about treatments.

"And by providing doctors with information about what treatments work and what treatments cause problems, we will reduce medical errors that injure and cause the deaths of thousands of Americans each year," Bush said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

To view the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, click here.

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