Medical Errors

For years attorneys have touted the medical malpractice system as the guardian of health care, deterring medical errors. As you have correctly stated in your Jan. 20 editorial (“Nurses and Patience”), “The nation has no effective system for tracking medical errors.”

The malpractice system has failed to fulfill its promise. Establishment of patient safety programs and reporting of all serious medical errors can be a positive step to improve medical care--if indeed its purpose is to improve medical care. At some point there must be a meeting of the minds between patients seeing malpractice litigation as a lottery to hit the jackpot and fearful physicians burying their mistakes.

MARVIN J. GORDON MD

Laguna Beach