Vol. 539 No. 1
269 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if, in view of an Institute of Medicine report in the US which states that as many as 98,000 Americans die each year due to medical errors in hospitals, he will give his views on whether there is a pro-rata level of fatality here; and if any studies have been carried out by his Department on this issue. [18884/01]
There are enormous problems in applying data from studies of medical error rates in one country to another. The findings of those studies are also the subject of critical comment in the countries where they have been conducted. In a speech to a conference in Dublin this year I made reference to the findings in those studies and suggested that they give rise to genuine concern about error rates whatever the flaws in their methodologies. No similar studies have been undertaken in Ireland.
