Hospitals, traditionally cagey about even the slightest medical slipup, are being urged to stop being so secretive about accidents.

New guidelines, drawn up Thursday by a standing committee of the council of national university hospital presidents, call on hospitals to submit reports not just on instances of medical malpractice with grave consequences. Hospitals are also encouraged to report other cases, such as unexpected medical complications that crop up even when medical error has been ruled out.

Accidents involving malpractice, even if the patient later recovers, must also be announced, according to the guidelines. The committee noted that such cases usually are not made public.

The guidelines affect the country's 42 national university hospitals. Officials said they hoped the initiative would be emulated by other hospitals and clinics.

``We hope the new guidelines will prompt thorough use of informed consent so medical practice will be better geared to patient needs,'' said Ryozo Nagai, chief of the University of Tokyo Hospital, who led the panel's efforts.

The guidelines, which take effect in April, set out different ways of releasing information on medical accidents.

In cases of a medical error leading to death or serious injury, the hospital must swiftly call a news conference to disclose the problem.

If a patient recovers from a serious condition caused by a medical mistake, the case must be posted on the hospital's Web site or released by other means after an investigation. Any grave errors must be announced swiftly, regardless of whether the patient recovered.

In other cases, where malpractice was not involved, accident information will be disclosed, without naming hospitals, on the Web site of the University Hospital Medical Information Network at certain intervals or year by year.(IHT/Asahi: March 5,2005)