Criminalisation of fatal medical mistakes

Holbrook, Jon

doi:10.1136/sbmj.040118

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…In the UK between 1867 and 1989 there were only seven cases of prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter but between 1990 and 2003 the total had risen to 27. The change seems to have been from the 19th century concept that it would be wrong to proceed if there was a kind of forgetfulness common to everybody or a slight want of skill to the concept that if there has been an accident, someone must be to blame [57]. This marks a gross change, one which if the practitioner had acted outside the confines of guidelines could have profound effects, despite the fact that in UK law they are not enforceable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

State of the art of guidelines

Hill

2006

Forensic Science International

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

State of the art of guidelines

Hill

2006

Forensic Science International

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“…Recently, a doctor was given a custodial sentence after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of his patient by gross negligence [6]. In the past, such prosecutions were rare.…”

Section: Criminal Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical governance

Baird¹

2004

International Congress Series

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“…It has been claimed that there is an increasing tendency ‘to turn medical mistakes resulting in death into tragedies calling for criminal investigation’ (Holbrook 2003: 1119). This claim relates to a commonly expressed fear amongst medical practitioners of litigation from dissatisfied patients and of the social and professional consequences of blame.…”

Section: Blamementioning

confidence: 99%

Telling cultures: ‘cultural’ issues for staff reporting concerns about colleagues in the UK National Health Service

Ehrich

2006

Sociology Health & Illness

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Recent UK health policy initiatives promote a 'no blame culture' and learning from adverse events to enhance patient safety in the NHS. Similar initiatives exist in the USA and Australia. Changing the 'blame culture' in the NHS has been advocated in policy documents and inquiry reports for over a decade. Some key concepts that are used in the policy discourse -'blame'; mistakes, errors and misdemeanours; and 'culture'- are examined and considered in the light of pertinent social science literature to question some of the assumptions concerning these terms in the policy discourse, and to suggest some alternative questions and perspectives. The Three Inquiries, a recent series of statutory inquiries held in the UK, are used as a case study to explore some of the intra- and inter-professional difficulties of reporting errors and misconduct by medical practitioners. The paper offers an interpretive social science perspective as an alternative to more policy oriented and managerial approaches to patient safety issues, focusing on deeper structural aspects of organisational phenomena implicated in the ability or otherwise of medical and other healthcare staff to report mistakes and misconduct as one aspect of patient safety.

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Criminalisation of fatal medical mistakes

Abstract: In the second article in our series on medicolegal matters, barrister Jon Holbrook looks at how social intolerance of medical mistakes in the United Kingdom has caused them to be criminalised

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

State of the art of guidelines

State of the art of guidelines

Clinical governance

Telling cultures: ‘cultural’ issues for staff reporting concerns about colleagues in the UK National Health Service

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