175 surgical mistakes in 30 months. That's the number of times a surgeon or hospital made a mistake which actually caused harm to a patient. 253 close calls. That's the number of times medical professionals made a mistake, but corrected the error before any 'harm' to the patient. Obviously, it's not that there are too many lawsuits, lawyers, or 'greedy' plaintiffs, it's that there are too many surgeons, hospitals, and nurses committing errors. If 175 airplanes fell out of the sky every month, due to pilot error, would we blame the families seeking compensation for the loss of their mothers, fathers, wives, husbands and siblings? As the saying goes, don't hate the players, hate the game. It's time for serious medical reform, an open system where mistakes are not hidden from patients and where those making the mistakes don't blame the victims for seeking compensation because they had their thyroid gland removed for cancer, only to find out the lab screwed up and there was no cancer in the first instance. For all of the grim details, you can get the June 26, 2007 report direct Patient Safety Authority, a Pennsylvania state run and funded organization created to reduce the number of people injured by medical malpractice. Utah should be so lucky to get such an organization..