In 1999, the Institute of Medicine stunned many medical professionals and policy makers with an analysis of America’s healthcare system.  In its report entitled To Err Is Human, the Institute of Medicine estimated that at least 44,000 and as many as 98,000 people die in America’s hospitals each year as a result of preventable errors.
	Included in this analysis of hospital-related errors were wrong or delayed diagnoses, errors in drug doses or method of drug delivery, inadequate monitoring, and avoidable delays in responding to abnormal tests.