R.I. Weighs Tracking System for Medical Mistakes

Lawmakers in Rhode Island have proposed creating a system that would track medical errors by Ocean State doctors.

The proposal comes after several well-publicized errors last year in which doctors operated on the wrong sides of brain surgery patients’ heads.

The proposal would create the Rhode Island Patient Safety Organization. The system would be voluntary and those who come forward could not be punished for reporting to the group. Health Director David Gifford said that caveat is important to preventing future similar mistakes.

“We all understand that these errors are just that — errors, mistakes, unintentional human slips, many of them less about actual medicine than about procedure,” said Rep. Joseph M. McNamara, a sponsor of the bill.

“Yet errors in the operating room can have grave, even deadly consequences, and it is our aim through this legislation to establish a mechanism to do a more thorough job of reporting, investigating and eliminating medical errors.”

Added Senate sponsor David E. Bates: “Responses that focus on discipline and retraining of individuals are not the only or most adequate way to address the system issues that lead to errors. With the mechanism created through this legislation, we believe we have a better, more comprehensive way to do that.”

The state’s Department of Health already requires hospitals and nursing homes to report medical mistakes.