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Physicians' MistakesWill Your Colleagues Offer Support?
John W. Ely, MD, MSPH
Arch Fam Med. 1996;5(2):76-77.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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WE ALL MAKE and most of us are willing to admit it. More than a decadaago, David Hilfiker to bring this dark side of medicine into the open by describing his own painful error1. I received support and comfort from this report as did other Phyicians2,3 Depending on the experience of the reader, the responses probably varied from "There but for the grace of God go I" to "I've been there." Not all reactions were supportive, however. Lettersthe editor included comments such as, "This neurotice has no place in The New England Journal of Medicine"4 and, "As an obstetrician-gynecologist I was appalled to read Dr Hilfiker's account of making the diagnosis missed abortion and performing a dilatation and curettage in a patient with a living fetus."5 Hilfiker observed that medicine simply has no place for its mistakes. He had hoped that, following publication of his essay, others would study and write about physicians' mistakes. Six years
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
Iowa City, Iowa
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