Accountability: Patient Safety and Policy Reform

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Accountability FM sharpe ppi-xii 08/05/2004 16:27 Page i H A S T I N G S C E N T E R S T U D I E S I N E T H I C S A SERIES EDITED BY Gregory Kaebnick and Daniel Callahan This series of books, published by The Hastings Center and Georgetown University Press, examines ethical issues in medicine and the life sciences. Established in 1969, The Hastings Center, located in Garrison, New York, is an independent , nonprofit, and nonpartisan research organization. The work of the Center is mainly carried out through research projects, the publication of the Hastings Center Report and IRB: A Review of Human Subjects Research, and numerous workshops, conferences, lectures, and consultations. The Hastings Center Studies in Ethics series brings the ongoing research of The Hastings Center to a wider audience. FM sharpe ppi-xii 08/05/2004 16:27 Page ii Accountability Patient Safety and Policy Reform Virginia A. Sharpe Editor Georgetown University Press Washington, D.C. FM sharpe ppi-xii 08/05/2004 16:27 Page iii Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C.©2004 by Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2004 This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Accountability : patient safety and policy reform / Virginia A. Sharpe, editor. p. cm. — (Hastings Center studies in ethics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-58901-023-X (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Medical errors—United States. 2. Health care reform—United States. I. Sharpe, Virginia A. (Virginia Ashby), 1959– II. Series. R729.8.A25 2004 362.1'0425—dc22 2004005622 FM sharpe ppi-xii 08/05/2004 16:27 Page iv For all whose lives have been changed by medical error FM sharpe ppi-xii 08/05/2004 16:27 Page v ...