Medicine, Death, and the Criminal Law
- 24 August 1995
- journal article
- Published by Massachusetts Medical Society in New England Journal of Medicine
- Vol. 333 (8) , 527-530
- https://doi.org/10.1056/nejm199508243330822
Abstract
Errors in medicine are common and are at least partly responsible for the deaths of 180,000 patients a year.1,2 There is increasing concern about medical errors and the steps that should be taken to prevent them.1 Until recently, hospitals have addressed errors after the fact, through mortality and morbidity conferences, incident reports, and the like, rather than before the fact, through attention to systems defects and prevention. Likewise, medical-malpractice litigation can be filed only after an injury has occurred. Malpractice litigation is intended to create incentives to improve the quality of medical care by making physicians and hospitals accountable . . .Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Withholding and Withdrawing Treatment: The Role of the Criminal LawLaw, Medicine and Health Care, 1987