Mistakes in Medical Profession - Page 3

Posted: 16 years ago

Thanks EveryOne for responses!!

Originally posted by return_to_hades


This post reminded me of a case that happened here in Madison last November.
http://www.channel3000.com/news/10223021/detail.html

The nurse charged in this case Julie Thao was a nurse for 16 long years with a perfect record. She was a nurse loved and adored by patients, who was good at her job. One fateful night during an emergency c-section delivery she was flustered and distracted by the patients screaming and accidentally have her an epidural instead of penicillin which ended up being fatal to the patient.

Julie Thao was charged as a criminal. This was a nurse who honestly wanted to help the patient. In her 16 yer flawless career she made only one fatal mistake and she was treated like a criminal. A person whose life had been dedicated to service and compassion was reduced to a mere criminal.

What is even nastier is that what should have been a civil malpractice suit was made into a criminal charge that created monetary benefits for the victims family who was suing the hospital for money.

http://www.sommersforsupremecourt.com/disinformation.htm

If any of us make a mistake in our jobs no matter how serious it is,worst case scenario is we maybe fired. We will still be treated like ordinary people and not criminals. While doctors and nurses should take a high amount of care to avoid mistakes they work in a high stress environment and should be cut some slack.

As for drug testing, it has to be tested on someone. It is a voluntary risk a person takes to see if a drug is safe for the markets. Without such testing we would not know of any side effects etc. These drug testing companies offer hefty compensation, and medical attention. We have several drug testing labs in our town and I know several people who have successfully tested drugs. If someday I was available for their testing schedule I would too. I think the risk of a few lives is worth saving a few potential ones in the future. As it is one human less will not make a difference.

Hear yaa @ old RTH. tfs

 

Posted: 16 years ago
Originally posted by raj5000


Probably the reason such strict laws against doctors are enforced...as this is no joke profession havn't met or may be won't be able to meet such a Doctor in person 😳...you guys deal with him...😊

Vinu - Thanks for response bud!

Every profession beyond a point is a no joke profession.. A general who makes decisions for teh soldiers.. or a captain of a ship making a wrong decision ...etc... the bottom line is mistakes can be isolated from blunders and negligence... there is no ambiguity there...😊

Posted: 16 years ago
Originally posted by raj5000


Thanks EveryOne for responses!!

Hear yaa @ old RTH. tfs

 Most of us don't have jobs with life and death issue. Forget jobs or profession- If you get into an auto accident while driving and hit a car or pedestrian in the front and they die, you can be tried as a criminal. Loss of a life is very serious and hence medical professionals are required to go thru lengthy training process. 

Posted: 16 years ago
Originally posted by lighthouse


 Most of us don't have jobs with life and death issue. Forget jobs or profession- If you get into an auto accident while driving and hit a car or pedestrian in the front and they die, you can be tried as a criminal. Loss of a life is very serious and hence medical professionals are required to go thru lengthy training process. 

Thats right.. for any crime to be established an intent needs to be established...other every mistake is measured against its appropriateness... whether its a doctor or anyone else....take for eg...pilots etc... their mistakes take about 200 people to heaven unlike a doctor who can send one at a time.. The reason doctors profession attracts attention is because they are closed. Nobody knows what they are doing.. its impossible to probe and murder when a doctor commits it... which is why they are said to have license to kill....😊

Posted: 16 years ago
Originally posted by qwertyesque


Thats right.. for any crime to be established an intent needs to be established...other every mistake is measured against its appropriateness... whether its a doctor or anyone else....take for eg...pilots etc... their mistakes take about 200 people to heaven unlike a doctor who can send one at a time.. The reason doctors profession attracts attention is because they are closed. Nobody knows what they are doing.. its impossible to probe and murder when a doctor commits it... which is why they are said to have license to kill....😊

  😆 ðŸ˜† @ doctors comment.   Doctors never have their own life on the line when they commit a mistake and end up living with the consequences and in some cases end up making same mistakes over and over. I think the doctor who operated on Sridevi's mother made similar mistake more then once.
Posted: 16 years ago
Practice Practice Practice.... 😕 when DR's Complete their practice then they can reduce Mistake.... 😃 😉
Posted: 16 years ago
Originally posted by lighthouse


 Most of us don't have jobs with life and death issue. Forget jobs or profession- If you get into an auto accident while driving and hit a car or pedestrian in the front and they die, you can be tried as a criminal. Loss of a life is very serious and hence medical professionals are required to go thru lengthy training process. 

I think we are lucky to have jobs with no life or death issues. So many ordinary people can slack of, be lazy, screw up and still have no problems. I am not condoning mistakes by doctors or nurses. There definitely should be severe consequences for mistakes.

However, I feel that it is a high tension work environment and no human is infallible or perfect. The most microscopic errors can cause fatalities. As humans they should be cut some slack once in a while.

Even a person who accidentally runs over and kilss pedestrian gets consideration - were they drunk or sober? were they speeding or normal? did they violate a traffic light or rule? was the pedestrian drunk or sober? was the pedestrian jaywalking? what were the road conditions when the accident happened? Based on the situation the person can be charged from something as minor as reckless endangerment misdemeanor to the max of involuntary or criminally negligent manslaughter.

Doctor's should also have the right to get fair judgment. What is their track record? How often have they made mistakes? Was their mistake due to gross malpractice or human error? I really do not have a problem with doctors facing charges, but I hate witchhunts against doctors, slapping murder charges in place of negligent manslaughter due to the high profile of the profession and emotiveness of judge and jury, tort lawyers taking advantage of cases to make millions in civil suits.

If some doctors conduct dirty dealings, its because the law conducts dirty dealings too - the end loss is always the common man.

Posted: 16 years ago
Originally posted by return_to_hades


I think we are lucky to have jobs with no life or death issues. So many ordinary people can slack of, be lazy, screw up and still have no problems. I am not condoning mistakes by doctors or nurses. There definitely should be severe consequences for mistakes.

However, I feel that it is a high tension work environment and no human is infallible or perfect. The most microscopic errors can cause fatalities. As humans they should be cut some slack once in a while.

 Most fatal medical errors are not made in ER.... despite of it being highly pressured and demanding environment. Ok there may be a case of  heart attack patient dying, but that is mostly due to lack of prompt care and treatment when ER waiting rooms are filled to capacity.  

 Fatal medical error cases are more frequently reported during elective or pre-planned surgery or medical treatment. Eg. Kanya west' s mother dying after plastic surgery, or wrong limb amputated on someone etc. or incorrect medicine or higher doses given by nurses. These are stupid mistakes or negligences imo. No one wants to take the initiative to double check anything, doctors think their time is too valuble and rely on nurses/ adminstrative staff.

 We don't hear about so many mistakes being made by pilots, captions or train/bus drivers because they care to be cautiuos as their lives are on the line. Car drivers on the other hand can be reckless due to external influences of intoxication, road rage or simply believing they are going to walk away from the accident unless they hit something head on.  

Edited by lighthouse - 16 years ago
Posted: 16 years ago
Originally posted by lighthouse


 Most fatal medical errors are not made in ER.... despite of it being highly pressured and demanding environment. Ok there may be a case of  heart attack patient dying, but that is mostly due to lack of prompt care and treatment when ER waiting rooms are filled to capacity.  

 Fatal medical error cases are more frequently reported during elective or pre-planned surgery or medical treatment. Eg. Kanya west' s mother dying after plastic surgery, or wrong limb amputated on someone etc. or incorrect medicine or higher doses given by nurses. These are stupid mistakes or negligences imo. No one wants to take the initiative to double check anything, doctors think their time is too valuble and rely on nurses/ adminstrative staff.

 We don't hear about so many mistakes being made by pilots, captions or train/bus drivers because they care to be cautiuos as their lives are on the line. Car drivers on the other hand can be reckless due to external influences of intoxication, road rage or simply believing they are going to walk away from the accident unless they hit something head on.  



I have never stated that doctors should not be held accountable. What I want to state is that doctors and nurses deserve to a fair judgment. In the local nurses example I stated, she was not a reckless callous nurse, she had 16 years of exemplary service, she made one fatal mistake and was abused as a criminal. The victims family used a high profile law firm to milk millions from the hospital in civil damages. Just because we have a few doctor's who are reckless, incompetent and uncaring does not mean we can judge everyone in the profession as uncaring, incompetent and reckless. We should not let biases against doctors cloud giving them a fair charge and investigation.
Posted: 16 years ago

Originally posted by return_to_hades



I have never stated that doctors should not be held accountable. What I want to state is that doctors and nurses deserve to a fair judgment. In the local nurses example I stated, she was not a reckless callous nurse, she had 16 years of exemplary service, she made one fatal mistake and was abused as a criminal. The victims family used a high profile law firm to milk millions from the hospital in civil damages. Just because we have a few doctor's who are reckless, incompetent and uncaring does not mean we can judge everyone in the profession as uncaring, incompetent and reckless. We should not let biases against doctors cloud giving them a fair charge and investigation.

 True. Agree on giving medical professionals fair trial and the malpractice lawyers do take care of that as they are the ones coughing up millions in awards.

 I don't see much difference in the nurses example you cited and a driver with perfect driving record for 15 years, hits someone accidently, resulting in death of the person.. except that the nurse was getting paid for her services which implies a much bigger responsibility on her training and expertise. Patients have implicit trust on medical professionals to not make simple mistakes such as reading names of medicine or doses incorrectly. More often then not, fatal medical errors are not errors of professional judgement but mere negligence of safe procedures. It is always the same doctor or same hospital/facility where such fatal cases are reported to have occured.

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