Opinion: U.S. Medicine Should Step Up Error Prevention

The U.S. could "substantially improve the safety of medicine" and reduce expenses related to medical error by billions of dollars annually by creating "an independent agency charged with identifying and eliminating the causes of medical error" similar to the National Transportation Safety Board, argues Jim Hall, former NTSB chair and managing partner of a health care and safety consulting firm.

• "First, Make No Mistakes" (Hall, New York Times, 7/29).