Interesting article and a quick read.....

[SLUser11]

Here is an article that I read back in a college ethics class that I re-discovered yesterday.

David Hilfiker- Mistakes

Original article: N Engl J Med. 1984 Jan 12;310(2):118-22.

I remember finding it to be pretty interesting back then, and it has become much more relevant since I became a doctor. I'm sure a lot of you have read it or heard of it before.

Let me know what you think.....

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[DrDre311]

Holy ****. I can't imagine going through that deal with the pregnant woman. Something like that would haunt someone for the rest of his life regardless of the family's forgiveness or lack thereof.

 

[supercut]

I think the article shows good reason why non surgeons shouldn't do surgery!

 

[Winged Scapula]

I think the article shows good reason why non surgeons shouldn't do surgery!

I dunno...he's not doing anything outside of the realm of his training in Ob-Gyn (it would seem to me).

 

[SLUser11]

I think the article shows good reason why non surgeons shouldn't do surgery!

This also happened in the late seventies in a rural Minnesota town, so he made a big point about how he was constantly trying to decide which cases he needed to refer to the big academic center, and which ones he could handle himself. It sounds like he was encouraged by his surgical colleagues to handle the "small stuff" himself, which was much more the norm at that time than it is now......

 

[gudog]

I admire the fellow for his self insight.

I am also somewhat surprised that a family MD would have had such a broad scope of practice in the late 1970's.

He was doing OB, surgery, in addition to family medicine. Talk about a jack of all trades. I thought that went out in the sixties at the latest.

 

[BlondeDocteur]

I met FPs when working way, way out there for the Indian Health Service that were trained under-- and continued to practice-- according to the "do everything" model.

I remember reading that article a couple of years ago... it sparked a lively discussion in our first year Clinical Practice course. It seemed a lot easier then to loftily pronounce that of course doctors should admit their mistakes than it does now....

 

[maxheadroom]

Wow! Never read that before. I've screwed some thing up, but that really beats anything that I could even imagine.