Doctors make mistakes just like regular people. They have a greater risk because most of their circumstances are life and death. What would life be without mistakes? There would be nothing to fix or learn from in the world. Also, people would not be able to see how mistakes can affect other people. “Most surgeons are sued at least once in their careers. ” (Gawande Pg. 390) This is one example from the story, When Doctors Make Mistakes, it is certain that doctors are sued at least once in their life. The doctors aren’t perfect and are not always able to tell if a surgery is going to go right or wrong.
Doctors do not know if the person will come out alive depending on how major the surgery will be. There is a lot of pressure and so many people relying on doctors to not make mistakes. The amount of practice and skills the doctors have it is unlikely that they will have made a mistake that could cost someone their life. “Even worse than losing self-confidence, though, is reacting defensively. ” (Gawande Pg. 394) Some surgeons have a lot of self-confidence but do not reflect on. Doctors think they can never do anything wrong.
When something goes wrong doctors should take responsibility for what happened and know how to fix it. Some doctors are unable to see passed their mistakes and what other doctors are doing right. A lot can be learned from those doctors who learn from their mistakes but some doctors refused to do so. “I should have immediately called Dr. Ball for backup” (Gawande pg. 387) When doctors get a patient in the ER, the patient should be properly examined by the doctor. Backup doctors should be called to the room if needed. Most doctors should be able to handle ER patients without another doctor there, but if another doctor is needed someone should be notified before it is too late.
If back up is not called there could be some problems. A more skilled doctor should be handling the patient that needs immediate medical assistance. When doctors are stressed and nervous it can affect their performance. Sometimes doing what they know is easier said than done. Making the right choices in a life and death situation can be tricky but the outcome is what matters. Mistakes happen whether you are a doctor, teacher, athlete or a friend. Choosing to make the right choice is always the best thing to do.
Works Cited
- “When doctors make mistakes – Annals of Medicine. ” New Yorker. 1 February 1999 POWERED BY TCPDF (WWW. TCPDF. ORG).