My ethics teacher said this is an issue that gets ignored and hidden from patients families. Doctors and nurses continuously shred or not chart correctly when mistakes are made to look out for other healthcare providers. I have to write a paper about what society should do about this issue. My teacher said it's not so much about someone getting fired but something needs to be done and how would you deal with it if it was you or a friend in the healthcare industry who made the preventable istake that killed another human.
Lalex
Shoot the doctor and anyone who covered for him/her?
Naguru
All precautionary measures should be taken. All such medicines bottled/pockets should have a label display about the precautionary methods to be taken in BOLD letters. It should be kept out of bounds from children.
dreaming of a transhuman future
Society's response should be measured, rational, and in proportion to other known risks and sources of harm.
It should be noted that we already live in an extremely litigious society, and this "sue first, ask questions later" atmosphere has its own set of detrimental and unintended consequences. So I don't think simply tightening the noose will help.
The simple truth is that while medicine is based on science, its practitioners are still only human. There are things we can do to reduce mistakes and negligence (electronic records of prescriptions to prevent bad drug interactions is a good example), but this is not a problem we can ever completely eliminate.
OKwithme
Because many medical mistakes are preventable, many State licensing Boards now require doctors and other professionals to take error prevention courses. If a doctor does not take them he cannot renew his license. In addition, many maplractice insurance companies either require or give premium reductions for doctors who get error reduction training. In addition, hospitals and clinics have risk managers who make sure that programs are in place to prevent errors. Licensing Boards can also discipline doctors who caused preventable errors. When all these measures fail, ambulance chasing lawyers can punish doctors who make mistakes big time, either thru big cash damages or losing their license. Finally, doctors who cover up mistakes like shred or not chart correctly can be prosecuted for violating state and federal laws, and punished with fines or imprisonment. So a lot is being done these days, compared to the past.
Orignal From: What should society do about preventable medical mistakes causeing death?
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