Hospital research is cleared

The Baltimore Sun, February 27, 2008

Previously, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shut down a study at Michigan Hospitals that used checklists to prevent errors in the intensive care unit. At the time, HHS's Office for Human Research Protections said the study violated federal ethics requirements. Now however, the acting director of the agency said that the HHS should not have inhibited the activity and encouraged the hospitals to continue using checklists to improve patient safety.