Hospitals have recognized these medical errors as a significant problem, and they are taking steps -- such as hand hygiene compliance and surgical checklists -- to make care safer. But if you or your loved one needs medical care now, be on the lookout for these errors.

Mistakes in health care are much more complex. Most errors result from multifaceted problems such as poor communication, inadequate staffing of nurses, or records and charting that is not up to date with technology. The answer is for each person as a consumer to take responsibility for his or her own health.

A hospital in Germany is being sued for medical malpractice after surgeons allegedly left more than a dozen medical odds and ends inside a cancer pati...

When you go to the doctor, you want to find out what's wrong and how you can get better. In modern-day America, though, what you will get are tests to "rule out" problems rather than figure out what you actually have.

When Aundrea Aragon went to the doctor about an oddly runny nose, doctors told her it was only allergies. The 35-year-old mother from Tucson, Ariz., h...

By Steve Sternberg, for U.S. News Early in July, Mary Brennan-Taylor stepped to the head of a class of medical students at the University at Buffal...

In the heated political battles that get all the attention, it's wise to remember that it is in the quiet battles that the most exquisite pain is experienced.

In recent years, medical educators have warned that hospitals are growing more impersonal and have urged young doctors to treat patients as people -- not diseases.

Our experience showed that "doing the right thing" -- appropriate care -- and "doing the right thing right" --- safe and effective care - can become the norm at rural, suburban and big urban teaching hospitals alike.

Patients must be alert to the risks associated with actions based on conclusions that may have been arrived at as a result of incomplete or inaccurate information.

Doctors and hospitals are finding that when they make a mistake, sharing the information with the patient isn't just the right thing and the smart thing -- it can be a money-saving thing.