Outing medical errors: Questions of trust and responsibility

Medical Law Review

Volumn 14, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 22-43

  Quick, Oliver ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DOCTOR PATIENT RELATION; HUMAN; INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION; LEGAL ASPECT; MEDICAL ERROR; NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE; PHYSICIAN ATTITUDE; REVIEW; TRUST; UNITED KINGDOM; UNITED STATES;

GREAT BRITAIN; HUMANS; MEDICAL ERRORS; PHYSICIAN'S ROLE; PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONS; STATE MEDICINE; TRUST; TRUTH DISCLOSURE; UNITED STATES;

EID: 33645000097     PISSN: 09670742     EISSN: 14643790     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/medlaw/fwi042     Document Type: Review

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80. In 1985 it acknowledged that it was 'concerned with errors in diagnosis or treatment and with the kind of matters which give rise to action in the Civil Courts for negligence, only when the doctor's conduct in the case has involved such a disregard of his professional responsibility to patients or such a neglect of his professional duties as to raise a question of professional misconduct' having previously explicitly excluded this from its remit. General Medical Council Professional Conduct and Discipline: Fitness to Practise (General Medical Council 1985) 10, para. 38.
81. The Act came into force on 1 July 1997. The General Medical Council (Professional Performance) Rules Order of Council 1997 (S.I. 1997 No. 1529).
82. General Medical Council, 'Making Fitness to Practise Fit for Practice' (General Medical Council 2004).
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84. Ss 25-9 National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002.
85. See also http://www.chre.org.uk/. It was initially called the Council for the Regulation of Health Professionals.
86. It was established under the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 and takes over the work of the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI), which was formerly known as the Commission for Healthcare Improvement (CHIMP).
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88. 'CMO Review of Medical Revalidation: Call for Ideas' (Department of Health 2005).
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90. The Bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 12 October 2005
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97. M.A. Paget, supra, n. 11.
98. E.S. de Beer (ed.), The Correspondence of John Locke (Clarendon Press 1976) I, 123 (letter 81).
99. D. Gambetta (ed.), Trust: Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations (Blackwell 1988), 'Foreword'.
100. A.C. Baier, Moral Prejudices: Essays on Ethics (Harvard University Press 1994) at 98.
101. D. Gambetta (ed.), supra, n. 83.
102. A.C. Baier, supra, n. 84 at 96.
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115. A. Giddens, supra n. 77 at 35.
116. The Bristol heart surgery affair is a graphic example of this where the general risk associated with the procedure was much lower than the actual personalised risk relevant to the surgeons.
117. A. Giddens, op.cit. supra, n. 77 at 85 (emphasis in original).
118. Ibid. at 86.
119. Ibid. at 130.
120. A.C. Baier, supra, n. 84 at 159.
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122. See M. Brazier, 'Editorial: Times of Change?' (2005) 13 Med. L. Rev. 1.
123. O.O'Neill, supra, n. 87.
124. Although, arguably, such mechanisms for openly investigating errors are required to try and rebuild (italicise for emphasis) trust.
125. B. Salter, Medical Regulation and Public Trust: An International Review (King's Fund 2000) at 9.
126. D.M. Berwick, supra, n. 53.
127. Reported examples include Wilsher v. Essex A.H.A. [1986] 3 A11 E.R. 801, C.A.;
128. [1988] 2 W.L.R. 557, H.L.;
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136. J.T. Reason, supra, n. 13.
137. O.O'Neill, 'A Question of Trust' supra, n. 87.
138. J.T. Reason, supra, n. 13 at 198.
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147. As Robin Cook mockingly remarked: 'This must be the most embarrassing failure in the history of British intelligence. Yet according to Lord Butler, no-one is to blame. Everyone behaved perfectly properly and nobody made a mistake. Poor things, they were let down by the system and institutional weaknesses.' R. Cook, 'Britain's Worst Intelligence Failure, and Lord Butler Says No One is to Blame' The Independent 15.7.04, p. 21.
148. The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (Cmnd. 4262-I 1999).
149. Bichard (Chair), An Independent Inquiry arising from the Soham Murders (2004).
150. Kennedy, supra, n. 5 at 1.
151. The Shipman Inquiry: First Report Volume One: Death Disguised (2002) at 14.15.
152. See http://www.nhsla.com/RiskManagement/.
153. For a discussion on the economic incentives for error reduction see A. Gray, 'Adverse Events and the NHS: An Economic Analysis' (2003)
154. http://www.npsa.nhs.uk.
155. Healthcare Commission, 'Assessment for Improvement: The Annual Health Check' (Healthcare Commission 2005).
156. 'The Management of Suspensions of Clinical Staff in NHS Hospital and Ambulance Trusts in England' Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General H.C. 1143 2003.
157. R. Dingwall, supra, n. 78 at 478.
158. U. Beck, supra, n. 77 at 33 (emphasis in original).
159. D. Irvine, The Doctors' Tale, Professionalism and Public Trust (Radcliffe Medical Press 2003).
160. 'Hospital Did Not Stop Killer Surgeon' The Times 24.6.04, p. 21.