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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared sepsis a medical emergency, reporting Tuesday that about 72 percent of patients with this fast-moving and deadly illness have recently been seen by doctors and nurses, representing missed opportunities to catch it early or prevent it. (Karidis, 8/23)

Preventable medical errors reported by full-service hospitals in Massachusetts grew 60 percent last year, a rise partly attributed to problems detected in a single hospital’s dialysis unit. Hospitals disclosed 1,313 errors that harmed or threatened patients in 2015, including 26 cases when the wrong surgery or procedure was done on a patient; 51 instances when a medication error seriously injured or killed a patient; and 446 cases of contaminated drugs, devices, or biologics. This last category, which accounted for only 37 reports in 2014, constituted most of the overall increase in reported errors. (Kowalczyk, 8/24)