FRANK SESNO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Frank Sesno in Washington. We want to take you now over to the Eisenhower Executive Building next to the White House where President Clinton is making some remarks, expected to unveil a series of initiatives to reduce preventable medical errors by 50 percent over the next five years, cited as the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, thousands of preventable medical deaths and injuries. Let's listen.</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thank Senator Jeffords, Senator Specter and Senator Harkin for being here. They had an important hearing today. And I can tell you that -- I was talking to them for a few moments outside -- they are passionately interested in and very well informed about this issue. And as we all know, when we have a bipartisan commitment in the Congress to solving a problem in America it normally gets solved. And I thank you all very much for your dedication.</s>SESNO: President Clinton is ticking through a number of steps that he is now proposing and will take in the goal of the administration to reduce by half over five years the number of preventable medical deaths, estimated by the Institute of Medicine to cause up to 98,000 lives per year. The president is laying out both new steps and new dollars to tackle that task and accepts a task force report on the subject at this event.
President Clinton Announces Initiatives to Reduce Medical Mistakes