Safety reporting now in Senate's hands

Congress should finish what it started and pass medical error reporting legislation this year.

Editorial. March 8, 2004.

About a year ago this week, hospitals and health care organizations around the country were observing the second annual Patient Safety Awareness Week -- a time to focus on their commitment to quality and to educate patients on how to become involved in their own health care.

At the very same time, the U.S. House of Representatives took an important step toward bolstering local quality efforts by passing the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act. The bill would create a voluntary system for reporting medical errors, and for analyzing and disseminating information on those mistakes so that physicians and others could prevent them in the future. The measure passed unanimously last July in Senate committee but never made it to the full Senate floor for a vote.

Fast forward. It's 2004. The National Patient Safety Foundation is again holding its Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 7-14. There could not be a more fitting time for the Senate to follow the precedent set by the House a year ago and turn its attention to passage of the medical error reporting bill.

In today's medical system, the fear of being sued discourages doctors, nurses and other health professionals from reporting medical mistakes. In the end, everyone loses, because patterns of errors aren't discovered and the faulty systems of care that allowed the mistakes to occur remain in place.