Introduction
The pandemic has highlighted long-standing cracks in the U.S. health care system, including the stubborn problem of patient safety. Before COVID-19, preventable medical mistakes claimed approximately 200,000 or more American lives each year, despite the government and organizations prioritizing patient safety over the past two decades. That number may grow as U.S. hospitals face staff shortages, especially if new spikes in COVID-19 cases cause these institutions to repeatedly be overwhelmed with high numbers of patients. As discussions continue on how to reduce injuries and deaths from medical errors, experts and advocates disagree on how to accomplish that. Some hospitals are aiming for zero patient harm, but others argue that is an unattainable goal. Meanwhile, many patient advocates are calling for the federal oversight system on patient safety to be overhauled, along with changes in how hospitals are held accountable.
Surgeons at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., operate on a patient in 2016. It is estimated that some 200,000 or more people die annually because of medical mistakes. As hospitals worked to improve their safety records, the COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges. (Getty Images/The Washington Post/Ricky Carioti)
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