Doctors Fail to Self-Report Errors

By Grant Law Office on January 18, 2008

A newly published study by researchers at the University of Iowa has found that a significant number of doctors fail to self-report medical errors. The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, revealed that 17 percent of doctors surveyed failed to report minor medical errors while 4 percent failed to report errors that resulted in disability or death. Data for the study were gathered from surveys with 338 doctors at three unidentified teaching hospitals. This is not surprising at all to me. In deposition after deposition, I have heard doctors who committed the most blatant of errors try to justify the unjustifiable. There are plenty of great physicians who are motivated by care and concern for patients. There are however, a small number of physicians, who like those in any business or profession, are there for the wrong reasons. Those individuals make the mistakes and when they do, sometimes try to bury them.

Source: The Des Moines Register – Study: Doctors Fail to Self-Report Errors