The number of patients harmed or killed each year by medical errors is staggering. Unfortunately, modern medicine has only recently begun to deal with this important issue. A wake-up call for the healthcare industry was first received nearly 20 years ago when the Institute of Medicine released the landmark report To Err is Human: Building a Better Health System. This sobering report estimated that one out of every 25 hospitalized patients is harmed by medical treatment, and that as many as 98,000 people die each year from medical errors in the United States. More recently, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medical Center reported that medical mishaps are the third-leading cause of death, with an estimated 250,000 patients dying each year from healthcare-related mistakes.