Failures of communication or miscommunication between health care professionals continues to be one of the deadliest types of medical error. Absence or errors of communication can lead to such disasters as “wrong-site” or “wrong-patient” surgery, improper anesthesia practice, medication errors, premature hospital discharge, and other life-threatening medical mistakes. In cases I have handled in my practice alone, communication failures have resulted in nerve damage, preventable stroke, massive medication overdose, and death. In most medical communication disasters, the problem is systemic – poorly designed or implemented that are disasters waiting to occur. The best hospitals reduce communication breakdowns by analyzing the cause of errors when the occur, and assessing all of their methods of transmitting information between doctors and other health care professionals, to try to minimize the risk of neglected or inaccurate communications. Watch this web site for a more detailed article on medical communication errors.