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Error in Medicine

Leape, Lucian L.·1994·JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association

Abstract

FOR YEARS, medical and nursing students have been taught Florence Nightingale's dictum—first, do no harm.1Yet evidence from a number of sources, reported over several decades, indicates that a substantial number of patients suffer treatment-caused injuries while in the hospital.2-6 In 1964 Schimmel2reported that 20% of patients admitted to a university hospital medical service suffered iatrogenic injury and that 20% of those injuries were serious or fatal. Steel et al3found that 36% of patients admitted to a university medical service in a teaching hospital suffered an iatrogenic event, of which 25% were serious or life threatening. More than half of the injuries were related to use of medication.3In 1991 Bedell et al4reported the results of an analysis of cardiac arrests at a teaching hospital. They found that 64% were preventable. Again, inappropriate use of drugs was the leading cause of

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Metadata

Authors
Leape, L. L.
Venue
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
Published
1994-12-21
Volume
272
Issue
23
Pages
1851
ISSN
  • 0002-9955 (ISSN-L)
  • 0098-7484
OpenAlex
W4292402253
Cited by
1,425
References
0
FWCI
33.22
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Error in Medicine. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1001/jama.1994.03520230061039
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Leape, L. L. (1994). Error in Medicine. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1994.03520230061039

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