Abstract

In this issue of SMJ, Holohan and colleagues present findings from their review of 1,949 paid malpractice claims in the Veterans Health Administration from 1998 to 2003. The article nicely highlights that diagnostic errors are an important quality problem in the US healthcare system. Diagnostic errors were common, they were very harmful to patients, and frequently occurred in the ambulatory setting. Of the 723 claims found to have negligent errors, 45% were diagnosis related and 41% of those resulted in death. Diagnosis-related negligent events comprised 49% of all negligent deaths in the data set. Another important finding was that 80% of negligent diagnostic errors occurred in the outpatient setting.