The 19-point checklist has nothing to do with high technology, Gawande says. Instead, it focuses on basic safety measures, such as ensuring that patients get antibiotics to prevent infection and requiring that all members of the team introduce themselves.

"An operation involves hundreds of steps with lots of team members," Gawande says. "We're good at making sure we do most of these things most of the time, but we're not good at doing all of them all of the time."