A new analysis shows that more than 250,000 deaths each year are due to these mistakes.
The CDC should update its vital statistics reporting requirements so that physicians must report whether there was any error that led to a preventable death, Makary said.
"We all know how common it is," he said. "We also know how infrequently it’s openly discussed."
"When a plane crashes, we don’t say this is confidential proprietary information the airline company owns. We consider this part of public safety. Hospitals should be held to the same standards," Makary said.
Death and serious harm by medicine is a big problem ... and much of the data to determine how serious the problem is are buried, never to be reported.