President Bush Signs Patient Safety Bill

[Guest guest]

President Bush Signs Patient Safety Bill

July 29, 2005

WASHINGTON, July 29-The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, an

initiative aimed at reducing deaths and injuries caused by medical

errors, was signed into law today by President Bush. The American

Medical Association praised the new law effusively.

" This without a doubt will reduce medical errors and improve patient

safety, " said J. Hill, M.D., president of the AMA.

The patient safety movement picked up support when the Institute of

Medicine (IOM) reported in 1999 that as many as 98,000 Americans are

killed by medical errors in U.S. hospitals each year.

The IOM report, " To Err Is Human, " recommended that a national,

confidential medical error reporting system be established. The new

law, which won bipartisan support in Congress, does just that.

The legislation does not mandate error reporting. Instead, it

establishes a system for voluntary, confidential reporting by

guaranteeing that the reports will not become the basis for law suits.

The AMA has long contended that hospitals and doctors are reluctant to

report errs because they fear lawsuits.

As outlined in the bill, hospitals and other healthcare organizations

would report errors to patient safety organizations that would, in

turn, analyze the errors, look for weakness in the system that foster

errors, and recommend ways to reduce mistakes. As the error rate is

reduced, lives will be saved, said Dr. Hill.

Dr. Hill attended the signing ceremony with J. Palmisano, M.D.,

J.D., a Metairie, La., surgeon and former AMA president.