[darawk]

Is it? Those all seem like pretty reasonable types of error. Ultimately they have to have contributed to the death of a patient to be included. If one of those things contributed to someone's death, I don't think i'd hesitate to call that a 'medical error'.

[gpm]

> one that does not achieve its intended outcome

I struggle to see how there are any deaths inside a hospital that don't fall into this category. E.g. a cancer patient on chemo therapy who doesn't make it would seem to qualify.

Realistically I assume this means that they count whatever they want as medical error, with no good rules.

[surfaceTensi0n]

I don't think your example would qualify unless a real error was made e.g. the chemo killed them so there was a planning error in putting them on chemo. The truth is that many people with cancer will not survive. In those cases, chemo is not about saving their lives, just extending them.

[aptwebapps]

You're saying what it should be but the parent comments are talking about what it actually says. Specifically, "one that does not achieve its intended outcome".

[surfaceTensi0n]

I'm arguing that the "intended outcome" isn't always complete recovery. If a patient with terminal cancer dies, that doesn't necessarily mean that the chemo didn't achieve its intended outcome.