Hearst: Medical Mistakes Cause 200k Deaths/Year

Yesterday's Oregonian featured Hearst Publications study that concluded there are 200,000 deaths per year due to medical mistakes. I couldn't find the Oregonian page, but the Houston Chronicle has a great site. The researchers include reporters from around the country and Columbia journalism students; and data sources appear to include discharge records, interviews, and health care research yet the specifics are vague. The 200,000 number is huge considering some thought the IOM's 98k/year was extravagant back in 1999. I think the researchers might also want to note somewhere (which they don't seem to) that the Hearst Corp. owns two of the major players in clinical decision support: Zynx and First Databank.