Physician and Public Opinions on Quality of Health Care and the Problem of Medical Errors

Abstract

OVER THE past decade, the quality and safety of health care in the United States has become a major public health concern and the focus of significant research. The 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on medical errors, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System,¹ reported "preventable adverse events as a leading cause of death," and provided startling estimates of "between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans dying each year in hospitals as a result of medical errors."