Argumentative Essay On Medical Malpractice

In the U.S., the third leading cause of death is not a topic the general public knows and talks about: medical mistakes. According to the Journal of Patient Safety, between 210,000 and 440,000 patients suffer some type of harm. The medical system should change so there are more people double-checking every detail, the hours of doctors shifts are reduced and the topic of medical malpractice is openly discussed. In life or death situations, every small detail needs to be checked and double checked to reduce the likelihood of error. There are far too many examples where negligence by any of the medical staff has led to a patient suffering the consequences. For example, consider the Duke Health Raleigh case. One of the top hospitals in the U.S., as reported by health.usnews.com, somehow exposed 3,800 patients to surgical instruments washed with hydraulic fluid instead of detergent. The nurses realized the tools were more slippery than they should be yet when the staff complained, the administrative staff failed to heed the complaints. This lack of simply double checking to ensure safety cause dozens of patients to having …show more content…
Brian Goldman is a physician who went on TedTalk, a set of global conferences, and discussed the issue of medical malpractice. In the video, Goldman explained how even in the medical community, there is a feeling of shame whenever a medical error does occur. “Shame, Guilt and Medical Error,” an article in the Huffington Post, explains the shame of making a medical error as well as the fear of admitting anything that could possibly lead to a malpractice lawsuit. There is also the emotional distress, depression or anxiety doctors may face daily. Instead of pointing fingers and keeping quiet, medical malpractice should be a national conversation seeing as how many of these errors are