Dan Lakeland asks:

When are statistical graphics potentially life threatening? When they’re poorly designed, and used to make decisions on potentially life threatening topics, like medical decision making, engineering design, and the like. The American Academy of Pediatrics has dropped the ball on communicating to physicians about infant jaundice. Another message in this post is that bad decisions can compound each other.

It’s an interesting story (follow the link above for the details), would be great for a class in decision analysis or statistical communication. I have no idea how to get from A to B here, in the sense of persuading hospitals to do this sort of thing better. I’d guess the first step is to carefully lay out costs and benefits. When doctors and nurses make extra precautions for safety, it could be useful to lay out the ultimate goals and estimate the potential costs and benefits of different approaches.