Medical errors can lead to harmful effects on anyone. The effects can be magnified when a person is elderly or ill. Needless errors can result in more medical visits and health insurance payments.

Research from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston says that negative reactions to certain drugs occur in approximately 40 percent of all hospital patients.

A special computer program that warns doctors of a patient's potential allergy or other complications has been shown to significantly reduce the number of harmful prescription combinations.

"We have long known that certain commonly prescribed drugs can be harmful to older patients," says BIDMC associate director and gerontologist Dr. Melissa Mattison. "But because the majority of doctors have not been trained in geriatric medicine, they may not be aware of these risks. Our study found that when doctors were alerted that the drugs they were ordering could pose a danger to older hospital patients, the orders dropped almost immediately."

Getting a grasp on the special needs of older people is particularly important as the number of elderly citizens continues to rise. Data from the U.S. Census shows there was nearly 36 million people over the age of 65 in 2003.