Schwitzer health news blog

Minnesota reports hospital errors

Minnesota has issued a report card on medical errors at 139 hospitals throughout the state. The report says that 99 serious errors occurred between July 1, 2003 and Oct. 6, 2004, including 21 preventable deaths, 13 operations on the wrong body part, and 31 instances of foreign objects being left in patients after surgery.

The Star Tribune reports: "Minnesota was the first state to adopt a list of 27 reportable events proposed by the National Quality Forum, based in Washington, D.C. Two others, New Jersey and Connecticut, have followed suit but have not released results yet. The list was inspired by a 1999 Institute of Medicine report that estimated that 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year from hospital errors."