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The intense scrutiny on preventable death and medical error in the lay press and medical literature has resulted in a renewed focus on creating a safer environment for our patients. In a retrospective analysis of almost 400,000 visits to an urban tertiary-care emergency department over a decade, researchers attempted to determine causes of unanticipated death within 7 days after discharge and to identify possible medical errors.
Overall, 117 patients (30.2 per 100,000 discharges) died within 7 days of discharge. Half the deaths were unexpected and related to the condition involved in the ED visit, and 60% of these cases had a possible medical error. Unanticipated deaths related to medical errors (9 per 100,000 discharges) were statistically …