Medical error

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A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care ("iatrogenesis"), whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient. This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of a disease, injury, syndrome, behavior, infection, or other ailments.

The incidence of medical errors varies depending on the setting. The World Health Organization has named adverse outcomes due to patient care that is unsafe as the 14th causes of disability and death in the world, with an estimated 1/300 people may be harmed by healthcare practices around the world.^[1]