$dbh = DBI->connect($dsn, $user, $password,
                             { RaiseError => 1 });

 "RaiseError" (boolean, inherited)
           This attribute can be used to force errors to raise exceptions
           rather than simply return error codes in the normal way. It is
           "off" by default.  When set "on", any method which results in an
           error will cause the DBI to effectively do a "die("$class $method
           failed: $DBI::errstr")", where $class is the driver class and
           $method is the name of the method that failed. E.g.,

             DBD::Oracle::db prepare failed: ... error text here ...

           If you turn "RaiseError" on then you'd normally turn "PrintError"
           off.  If "PrintError" is also on, then the "PrintError" is done
           first (naturally).

           Typically "RaiseError" is used in conjunction with "eval { ... }"
           to catch the exception that's been thrown and followed by an "if
           ($@) { ... }" block to handle the caught exception. In that eval
           block the $DBI::lasth variable can be useful for diagnosis and
           reporting.  For example, $DBI::lasth->{Type} and
           $DBI::lasth->{Statement}.