In the Harvard Medical Practice Study, a sample of 31,429 medical records of hos
ID: 3378579 • Letter: I
Question
In the Harvard Medical Practice Study, a sample of 31,429 medical records of hospital patients were reviewed to assess the frequency of medical malpractice. Two types of malpractice were identified:
(1) An adverse event was defined as an injury caused by medical management rather than by the underlying disease.
(2) Negligence was defined as care that fell below the standard expected of physicians in the community.
An approximate 1% sample of records was reviewed on two different occasions by different review teams.
Data
Adverse Events
Review Process B
Review process A 35 13
21 249
Negligence
Review Process B
Review Process A 4 9
12 293
Can you assess the reproducibility of adverse events and negligence designations? Which seems to be more reproducible?
Explanation / Answer
In the Harvard Medical Practice Study, a sample of 31,429 medical records of hos