How to Reduce Medical Malpractice Claims? Study Says Surgical Checklists

Reuters reports on a study from Amsterdam which concluded that "...nearly a third of the malpractice claims arose from mistakes that likely would have been caught by a [surgical] checklist." The article also quotes Atul Gawande from the Harvard School of Public Health, "a surgeon who has written extensively on the topic." Said Gawande:

"This kind of evidence indicates that surgeons who do not use one of these checklists are endangering patients..."

According to the article, "only about one in four U.S. hospitals use one of the three checklists that have been proven to work." To read the full article, please click on Reuters Surgical Checklists.