Quebec Orders Hospitals to Disclose Medical Errors

Quebec became the first province in Canada to require hospitals to publicly disclose medical errors. Quebec’s Department of Health and Social Services has announced a new registry that will collect standardized data from 275 hospitals across the province.

The system will document all reported medical errors including:

1. Patient falls;
2. Supply problems; and
3. Medical record errors.

Incomprehensible Delay

The registry is being implemented 9 years after Quebec passed a law requiring hospitals to track “adverse events”. The goal of the legislation is to identify and correct any patterns of medical errors.

Jean Pierre Menard a medical malpractice lawyer from Montreal calls the almost 10 year delay in implementing the legislation “incomprehensible“.

First Step

As I mentioned in previous posts, until now, there has been no law requiring doctors of hospitals to disclose medical errors. This initiative by Quebec is an admirable first step in improving patient safety and consumer’s confidence in our health care system.

One Down Twelve to Go

Now that Quebec has made reporting hospital errors mandatory there are “only” nine more provinces and three territories that need to implement similar legislation.

What are they waiting for?

If you or a loved one have suffered injuries that you think may be due to medical malpractice you can buy a copy of my book: The Consumer’s Guide to Medical Malpractice Claims in Canada: Why 98% of Canadian Medical Malpractice Victims Never Receive a Penny in Compensation. on Amazon.com.

Or you can contact me through this blog or by calling toll free in Atlantic Canada 1-877-423-2050 and we will send you a copy, free, anywhere in the Maritimes.