In 2010, Atul Gawande wrote The Checklist Manisfesto. This was back when electronic medical records (EMRs) were being forced upon medical practices by the government, not because such records improved patient care or a physician’s ability to diagnose. Rather Medicare wanted the data to keep track of the what medical practices were doing so they could control care with checklists. I’m a great admirer of Atul Gawande and I am not suggesting the conclusions drawn in his book were factually incorrect. My problem is with the title. At a time when the government was forcing medical practices to collect data irrelevant to the art of medicine, the title gives the impression that checklists will solve all kinds of problems in medicine. Checklists can solve some of the procedural problems with medicine, such as providing a protocol for washing hands, as Gawande discusses. A hand washing protocol—a checklist, if you will—can improve the safety of medical practice.