Nowadays, "WB Medical Council suspends 3 doctors from reputed hospitals for medical negligence", " Cotton Mop allegedly left during C-Section: Gynaecologist, Nurse booked under IPC 304 after patient death" Such attention-grabbing headlines are common place in the Indian news media every day. These stories indicate a grave fundamental problem in the way medical errors are being handled – that is by blaming the doctors/nurses/pharmacists involved and taking punitive actions against them. The fact is that “suspending” the doctors or ‘booking a nurse’ will not prevent similar adverse events from happening again – even in the same hospital.
When the system or the environment in which care is being delivered has not been optimized and improved by keeping the safety of patients in mind, medical errors will take place even in the hands of the best, brightest, careful and caring clinicians. The…
