Resumen

ALVARADO-GUEVARA, Ana Teresa  y  FLORES-SANDI, Grettchen. Medical Errors. Acta méd. costarric [online]. 2009, vol.51, n.1, pp.16-23. ISSN 0001-6002.

A medical error is a fault that occurs during the delivery of health care that has caused damage to the patient. It could be related to the organization and implementation of the medical service, through multiple and complex mechanisms. None of the medical areas is exempt of them. The legal analysis of diagnostic errors is difficult because many times they are inevitable. However, as soon as their possible causes-cognitive errors, system errors and no fault errors-are analyzed, it is possible to establish strategies to minimize them. The most important approach to a medical or diagnostic error is to confront it with reliability and clarity.

Palabras clave : medical error; diagnostic error; health system; malpractice.

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