THE ANNOUNCEMENT that Medicare will no longer pay hospitals for "conditions that could reasonably have been prevented" is a loud and, many would say, long-overdue wake-up call for American hospitals. Officials are reflecting the rising indignation of the public at the high rate of harm they experience when hospitalized. People have long been baffled by -- and unforgiving of -- the so-called "never" events: sponges left in patients, surgery on the wrong site, mismatched transfusions, etc. But they also don't think they should fall or get infections or pressure ulcers when they go into a hospital, and they think hospitals have been far too blasé about their responsibilities to prevent harm.

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