The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) defines a "medication error" as "any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. At many occasions a medication error can be caught or is rectified before its administ...

© 2000 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors Public concern regarding medication errors was heightened by the recent death of infant Trevor Landry from a narcotic overdose in a Toronto-area hospital. This case involved the mistaken administration of morphine instead of meperidine postoperatively. A colleague and I reported a near-fatal medication error during general anesthesia that res...