diff --git a/src/clib/pio_error.h b/src/clib/pio_error.h
index af4b0ed04e0..4e33f5695b5 100644
--- a/src/clib/pio_error.h
+++ b/src/clib/pio_error.h
@@ -28,4 +28,31 @@
         return e;                                                       \
     } while (0)
 
+/** Handle MPI errors. This should only be used with MPI library
+ * function calls. Finalize and return. */
+#define MPIERR(e) do {                                                  \
+        MPI_Error_string(e, err_buffer, &resultlen);                    \
+        fprintf(stderr, "MPI error, line %d, file %s: %s\n", __LINE__, __FILE__, err_buffer); \
+        MPI_Finalize();                                                 \
+        return ERR_AWFUL;                                               \
+    } while (0)
+
+/** Handle MPI errors. This should only be used with MPI library
+ * function calls. Finalize and goto exit. */
+#define MPIBAIL(e) do {                                                 \
+        MPI_Error_string(e, err_buffer, &resultlen);                    \
+        fprintf(stderr, "MPI error, line %d, file %s: %s\n", __LINE__, __FILE__, err_buffer); \
+        ret = NC_EIO;                                                   \
+        goto exit;                                                      \
+    } while (0)
+
+/** Global err buffer for MPI. When there is an MPI error, this buffer
+ * is used to store the error message that is associated with the MPI
+ * error. */
+char err_buffer[MPI_MAX_ERROR_STRING];
+
+/** This is the length of the most recent MPI error message, stored
+ * int the global error string. */
+int resultlen;
+
 #endif /* __PIO_ERROR__ */