INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana hospitals and surgery centers reported 77 serious medical errors in 2006, according to a preliminary report released Tuesday by the state Department of Health.

The report showed 23 cases of severe bedsores, 21 cases of leaving a foreign object in a surgery patient and six deaths or serious disabilities from medication errors.

The report showed that nine surgeries were performed on the wrong body part and two were performed on the wrong patient.

The disclosure was the first annual report of medical errors, which was called for by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

It covers hospitals, outpatient surgery centers, abortion clinics and birthing centers. The vast majority of reported mistakes took place in hospitals.

Clarian, which owns Methodist Hospital, where three infants died last year after receiving a mistaken dose of adult-strength Heparin, reported the most total mistakes of any Indianapolis facility -- 15.

Clarian President and CEO Daniel F. Evans Jr. said the organization's goal is to be error free.

"Clarian is devoted to patient safety and has many programs in place to enhance our quality of care," Evans said in a statement. "Since the unfortunate events of last fall, we have established or accelerated many safety processes."

Wishard Memorial Memorial and St. Vincent hospitals reported one mistake each. St. Francis hospitals reported no mistakes.

The disclosure did not show any reported errors by Community Health Network, but Community said Tuesday that two incidents were omitted because of a computer input error by a staff member. Community said it informed the state of the error, and that the state was in the process of updating the report.

"As we identify patterns, as even this first year does, the most commonly-made mistakes -- hospitals become much more sensitive to this and begin to take the steps, sometimes very simple steps, turning the patient more often, double-checking to make sure that all the surgical materials are accounted for before the procedure is completed," Daniels said.

The mistakes are rare considering the overall number of medical procedures, officials said. Indiana hospitals and surgery centers logged more than 1.7 million surgical procedures in 2005, and there were 3.7 million patients discharged from hospitals.

Health officials said more medical errors could be reported to the Department of Health by June 30, when the reporting period for 2006 ends. The department plans to issue a final report later in the year.

Health officials also said the number of reported errors was expected to rise over the next few years as hospitals learn more about logging such mistakes.

Indiana's Medical Error Reporting System tracks 27 types of mistakes -- including deaths from medication errors, surgeries on the wrong person or body part, patient suicide attempts and releasing infants to the wrong people.

The Department of Health began collecting the information in 2005 following an executive order by Daniels, and in 2006 approved permanent regulations requiring hospitals to report the mistakes.

More than 1.5 million Americans a year are estimated to suffer injuries from medication errors.

More Info: Indiana Department of Health