Patient safety incidents were already a leading cause of death in Canada. With that crisis converging with the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care is being pushed to a breaking point.
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Articles on medical errors
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Mistakes at the hands of health care providers are a major cause of death in the US. And many of the blunders are a byproduct of the system.
Despite protective apology legislation across Canada, many doctors and other health-care professionals remain too afraid or ashamed to apologize after medical errors.
Doctor depression, burnout and suicide have been rising for some time, and overwork was considered the norm. A health care lawyer explains why the legal and regulatory systems must intervene.
Litigation may sound like an obvious route for someone who experiences a medical injury. But it’s a lengthy and stressful process, and rarely provides relief to patients and their families.
Research shows that Indigenous women are at greatest risk of injury within Canada. Income, education and housing inequities play a role. So does systemic racism and post-colonial trauma.
There is little if any evidence that the frequency of sentinel events reflects the overall quality of care provided by a hospital.
Complex systems, from TV shows to hospitals, have plenty of checks and procedures, so why do things still go wrong?
A recent study suggesting that medical error is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. made headlines. But the methods researchers used to draw this conclusion are flawed.
In Australia, estimates suggest undesired harmful effects from medication or other intervention such as surgery occur in around 17% of hospital admissions. But blaming the doctors won’t help.
Top contributors
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Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Northern British Columbia
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Professor, Head of School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Monash University
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Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
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Associate professor, UNSW Sydney
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Professor, Psychology of Healthcare, University of Leeds
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Professor of Political Science, Pro Vice Chancellor of the Social Sciences, University of Nottingham
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Professor of Human Factors and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, Past President of Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, University of Nottingham
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Professor, Health Law and Ageing Research Unit, Department of Forensic Medicine, Monash University
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Professor of Health Law and Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University
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Professor, University of British Columbia
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Senior Lecturer in Health Law and Torts, UNSW Sydney
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M. Anne George is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Professor Emerita Pediatrics, University of British Columbia
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Associate Professor of Political Studies, University of Manitoba
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Research assistant in Political Science, University of Victoria
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Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University
