If We’re Looking For Patient Safety From Our Medical Malpractice System, We Can’t Get There From Here.
Posted Sep 09 2010 5:52pm
Posted on | September 9, 2010 |
Despite all the progress in scientific research and technological advancements, at its core, health care remains a huge and complex human endeavor struggling for perfection. How huge? 900 million office visits and 35 million hospital discharges per year.(1) How complex? Complex enough to have spurned a massive defensive and litigious malpractice system whose annual cost this year has been pegged at 55 billion.(2) The goal? A culture of safety and reliability. The problem? Our medical malpractice system in this country suffers from a fundamental disconnect to our safety movement.
A head-to-head comparison tells the story. The tort system uses litigation as its lever for change. The safety movement uses quality improvement analysis. Tort law focuses on the individual. Safety focuses on the process. The tort system’s punitive and adversarial style drives information down, encouraging secrecy. The safety movement uses a non-punitive and collaborative approach, which encourages openness, transparency, and continuous improvement. With tort law, exposing oneself can end one’s career and harm one’s mental health. In the safety movement, contributing is career-enhancing and therapeutic.(3,4)
Posted on | September 9, 2010 |
Despite all the progress in scientific research and technological advancements, at its core, health care remains a huge and complex human endeavor struggling for perfection. How huge? 900 million office visits and 35 million hospital discharges per year.(1) How complex? Complex enough to have spurned a massive defensive and litigious malpractice system whose annual cost this year has been pegged at 55 billion.(2) The goal? A culture of safety and reliability. The problem? Our medical malpractice system in this country suffers from a fundamental disconnect to our safety movement.
A head-to-head comparison tells the story. The tort system uses litigation as its lever for change. The safety movement uses quality improvement analysis. Tort law focuses on the individual. Safety focuses on the process. The tort system’s punitive and adversarial style drives information down, encouraging secrecy. The safety movement uses a non-punitive and collaborative approach, which encourages openness, transparency, and continuous improvement. With tort law, exposing oneself can end one’s career and harm one’s mental health. In the safety movement, contributing is career-enhancing and therapeutic.(3,4)