Everyone learns from past mistakes.

Well, almost everyone.

It is natural that Allegheny County readers would think that incidents of medical malpractice would be used as "teachable moments" so that doctors do not repeat the same mistakes that their colleagues made.

However, this is not really the case.

Many instances of medical malpractice are kept under wraps, and even those that are not do not get widely disseminated, often because the medical community is loathe to cast light on its members' mistakes. In part because of that, there's a very real risk that the same mistakes get made over and over again, resulting in needless patient harm.

But together, a doctor and a lawyer have proposed to change that.

At a panel discussion the other week, the doctor and lawyer proposed creating a database of information collected during medical malpractice trials. They pointed out that these trials often gather a lot of highly detailed, sophisticated information and that, as of now, this information does not go anywhere after the trial is over.

The two have proposed putting this information into a database so that it could be used for instruction and enlightenment.

Case information would be stripped of any confidential information and most identifying details.

As long as confidential information is protected and as long as there is reasonable assurance that this database could only be used for proper purposes, we think this idea has promise. After all, why should we let mistakes repeat themselves? If we can take positive steps to use the resources we already have to further ensure patient safety, that is an option we ought to at least seriously explore.

Source: ThomsonReuters News & Insight, "Tapping medical malpractice cases for safety lessons," Terry Baynes, April 11, 2013