I think you brought up a point that is often lost in health care reform,,,, litigation reform. I personally feel that this is one of the areas where the greatest decrease in health care costs can be found. Of course it is never discussed in Tom Daschle's "Critical" book. Besides, he is only your new Health Care Tzar. Did I mention from WIKI.. "he has signed on as a Senior Policy Advisor with the K Street law firm Alston & Bird.[15][16] Health care interests, including CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth, are among the firm's lobbying clients.[4] The firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September 2008 to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60 percent of that money coming from the health industry.[5] " I am sure his interests will be selfless ;?

Having the opportunity to routinely care for my patients in the ICU, I understand the authors perspective and ideas. Medicine cannot be directly linked to aviation from a safety perspective, although it is commonly done. An aircraft with a oil leak found on preflight is grounded. A similar patient is taken to the operating room to undergo a life saving operation. Action is dictated by pathology, not the other way around. It is the understanding of human physiology that allows life saving decisions to be made, not a checklist of procedures. Having also been an officer in the military and experiencing battle, its procedures and guidelines are more closely related and commonly instituted (Morbidity and Mortality Conferences/After Action Reviews etc). It is often the variable nature of battles and war that is a closer corollary for a sick patient than the controlled environment of an aircraft hangar. In addition, it is the team approach in medicine that saves lives rather than the decisions of the sole pilot. Often, lives are saved by "looking outside the box" and finding a pathological problem that was not appreciated prior. It is the common practice of non-clinical professionals to implement policies for "life saving" from a distance of their desk and computer screen and then use data collection to justify their presence. Do I use checklists in my daily operations? Sure. There is a time a place for such tools. I can tell you from experience, it should not be instituted as broad as this article would infer.