Essentials of Health Policy and Law 2nd Edition by Joel Teitelbaum,Sara Wilensky

Exercise 1

What do you think of the term medical error as adescriptor of adverse medical outcomes? After all, there are many medical procedures (e.g., invasive surgeries) and treatments (e.g., chemotherapy) that not only are inherently risky, but also cause painful and dangerous (and often unpreventable) side effects (i.e., that lead to "adverse" medical results). Given this fact, is it conceivable that the healthcare delivery system could ever operate free of "error"? Can you think of other terms that better (or more fairly) convey the range of adverse outcomes attending healthcare practice?