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Why don't we? Because when it comes to health care we aren't rational. Emotions run and win the day. But not only do they win the day, they win the day in court

Why don't we? Because when it comes to health care we aren't rational. Emotions run and win the day. But not only do they win the day, they win the day in court for a lawsuit. Ob-Gyns have some of the highest insurance rates among doctors. Possibly the highest. Why? Because they screw up it's a baby that dies. God help you if you think there's an ounce of rationality in a room with a dead baby. Here's a similar article from earlier this year. The short version is that a man lost his wife to a mistake and... well that was it. The NHS (UK) doesn't do investigations as to what happened or why. That just means it will happen again. When a plane crashes there is a gigantic investigation and the results are shared. There are some famous cases where a series of basic mistakes needlessly lead to a crash and everyone dies. All pilots know about this so it doesn't happen anymore. Hospitals don't do that. Because it ends in pointing the blame finger. And then people lose their job, lose their license, and get the ever living shit sued out of them. http://www.newstatesman.com/2014/05/how-mistakes-can-save-lives http://www.newstatesman.com/2014/05/how-mistakes-can-save-li...

rokhayakebe 12y ago
The difference with the airline industry is that when there is a crash everyone dies. If my father is dead, and his doctor who made the mistake is alive, you can imagine she is not going to volunteer the information.
- forrestthewoods 12y ago
  You're right. That's the problem. Doctors make mistakes. Every doctor will be directly responsible for needlessly causing someone to die. Every single one. The doctor should volunteer in the information because she should not fear losing her job or getting sued. Instead nothing will happen and more people will needlessly die.
- kijiki 12y ago
  This is only true if the cause is pilot error. If the cause is improper maintenance, the responsible party is still alive. In the case of the NTSB, there is a strong culture of not penalizing errors unless they were criminal or egregious, which works well in promoting cooperation with the investigation. This would likely be very difficult to achieve with doctors, especially in the US.

rokhayakebe 12y ago

The difference with the airline industry is that when there is a crash everyone dies. If my father is dead, and his doctor who made the mistake is alive, you can imagine she is not going to volunteer the information.

forrestthewoods 12y ago
You're right. That's the problem. Doctors make mistakes. Every doctor will be directly responsible for needlessly causing someone to die. Every single one. The doctor should volunteer in the information because she should not fear losing her job or getting sued. Instead nothing will happen and more people will needlessly die.
kijiki 12y ago
This is only true if the cause is pilot error. If the cause is improper maintenance, the responsible party is still alive. In the case of the NTSB, there is a strong culture of not penalizing errors unless they were criminal or egregious, which works well in promoting cooperation with the investigation. This would likely be very difficult to achieve with doctors, especially in the US.