Inaction on medical errors draws fire in Iowa

Declaring that special interests have taken over state government, one of Iowa's top regulators is criticizing the Iowa Hospital Licensing Board for blocking public disclosure of hospital errors that threaten patient safety.

The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals has been trying for several months to persuade the Hospital Licensing Board to approve a measure requiring hospitals to make public so-called "never events" - medical errors that should never occur because they are preventable and threaten the health of patients.