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PPM Vice President - Risk Management Chairs APSF Task Force on Criminalization of Medical Error

June 1, 2022

Brian J. Thomas, JD leads Task Force in drafting APSF Position Statement on Criminalization of Medical Error and Call for Action to Prevent Patient Harm from Error

Overland Park, Kansas – June 1, 2022 – Preferred Physicians Medical (PPM), industry-leading provider of professional liability insurance for anesthesia practices, announced today that Brian Thomas, Vice President - Risk Management, chaired a task force responsible for drafting the APSF Position Statement on Criminalization of Medical Error and Call for Action to Prevent Patient Harm from Error that was released to the press and published on the APSF website on May 25, 2022.

The recent conviction of a former Tennessee nurse for criminally negligent homicide after a patient died as a result of a medication error caused an outcry from the medical community and several patient safety organizations, including the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF). Many medical societies, healthcare professionals, and patient safety experts strongly believe the criminal prosecution of healthcare professionals for human error will greatly set back safety reporting because healthcare professionals will not be willing to admit mistakes or report medical errors out of fear of criminal prosecution.

“We are deeply saddened and concerned by each adverse event that results in harm to a patient during any aspect of healthcare delivery, especially when the causes are preventable,” said Daniel J. Cole, M.D., FASA, former ASA president and current APSF president. “We offer our heartfelt condolences to all patients and their loved ones who have been harmed by preventable adverse events.”

Criminalization of medical errors, such as in the recent prosecution and conviction of a nurse in Tennessee “is counterproductive to the pursuit of prevention of harm to future patients and healthcare professionals,” according to the APSF statement. In its position statement, the task force advocates “for systemic changes that will enhance healthcare’s culture of safety and will reject the acceptance of ‘normalization of deviance’ that enables unsafe medical practices.”

Furthermore, the statement calls on “all healthcare systems, professional societies, healthcare professionals, and appropriate government agencies to take energetic, collaborative action to create and continuously improve systems of care so that such errors are nearly impossible.”

Read the position statement now at: https://www.apsf.org/news-updates/position-statement-on-criminalization-of-medical-error-and-call-for-action-to-prevent-patient-harm-from-error/.

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