A HEALTHY LOOK AT U.S. MEDICINE.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

Generally, when we hear about America's healthcare crisis, it concerns the financial burdens placed upon patients and hospitals and insurance companies run amok, denying crucial care.

``Remaking American Medicine: Health Care in the 21st Century,'' has another agenda in mind. It examines how a dedicated few have managed to improve the system, relying largely on greater openness and improved relationships between hospital staffs and their patients and families.

``Medical error,'' the focus of much of the series, causes nearly 100,000 deaths in the country every year, the documentary tells us -- more than automobile accidents or AIDS -- with millions more injured.

And, of course, these are wholly preventable tragedies.

Tonight's episode explores the sad story of Sorrel King, whose 18- month-old daughter died at Johns Hopkins due to medical error.

Rather than circling its wagons and obfuscating, the hospital admitted its mistake and accepted King's invitation to start a program designed to try to prevent similar accidents in the future, including encouraging greater discussion among patients, doctors and more empowered nurses.

Hospitals are better served by being honest about such incidents because full disclosure allows other hospitals to learn from such mistakes, says Dr. Daniel Berwick, founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He noted that it's kind of rare to see so many people in one film rationally discuss such an emotional topic.

Next week's installment echoes the message in exploring how a series of Pittsburgh hospitals combated an epidemic of patient infections caused by the hospitals themselves: By sharing information, the hospitals were spurred to act and were successful in reducing infections.

It also demonstrates how easily mistakes are made, when hospital staffers misinterpret a doctor's handwritten instructions, arguing that working via computers -- hard to believe, but there are still some people resisting them -- could reduce that kind of error.

Only episode three addresses the financial dilemma, and even it manages to find a silver lining in the dark cloud. It reports on the impending healthcare crisis in Los Angeles, where patients require extensive treatment only after they are diagnosed, while no funds are spent to prevent diseases. Its hero is Dr. Anne Peters, who counsels Latino diabetes victims out of an East L.A. clinic, encouraging them to get involved with their own treatment.

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

REMAKING AMERICAN MEDICINE - Three stars

What: Four-part documentary series on efforts to reduce medical errors by promoting greater openness in the healthcare system.

Where: KCET.

When: 10 tonight and Thursdays through Oct. 26.

In a nutshell: Sensitive and enlightening portrait of dedicated healthcare professionals and activists.

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Photo:

A medical error caused the death of Sorrel King's 18-month-old daughter.