The British Medical Journal (BMJ) reports that nearly 250,000 Americans die every year as a result of medical mistakes in hospitals and other health care facilities — mistakes that are entirely preventable. Medical errors are now the third-leading cause of death in the U.S., after heart disease and cancer. In “The Real Cause of Deadly Medical Errors,” Ashish Jha outlines for Scientific American exactly what constitutes a medical error how this systemic failure results in wholly unnecessary suffering for patients. [Read more…]