One million preventable deaths in last decade, says US report

10 years on from the US Institute of Medicine's damning report, To Err Is Human, which exposed that 98,000 Americans die each year from  preventable medical errors, little has been done to improve the  situation, according to health economist Jane Sarasohn-Kahn.

Quoting a report by the Consumers Union, To Err Is Human - To Delay is  Deadly, Ms Sarasohn-Kahn noted that, despite countless task forces,  conferences and recommendations formed since the original report was  published in November 1999, "preventable medical harm still accounts for  over 100,000 deaths a year in the USA." She estimates this as over one  million people who would still be alive today if greater action had been  taken.