Facing Our Mistakes Critique - Essay Example

According to my experience, I can categorically acknowledge that many physicians make mistakes that sometimes result in death, disability, or complication in patients. I can also specify an incident where a physician prescribed the wrong medication for me.

Doctors expect perfection because modern medicine is engulfed with technological wonders and near-miraculous drugs. Patients on the other hand expect perfection from their doctors since they are the only ones that can make decisions regarding a particular illness.

According to Doctor David Hilfiker, hiding mistakes will eventually make the physician to be cut off from healing, there is no forgiveness received, and the physician becomes thwarted hindering growth.

The ground as to why hiding mistakes is a problem is because the physicians will never get an opportunity to be forgiven and will live with the guilt of that mistake forever.

Different types of mistakes include:
- Not knowing enough.
- Lack of technical skill.
- Simple carelessness.
- Failure of judgment.

When one makes a mistake in the university hospital it is whispered as if it were a sin. It is also a culture that when a conference is convened to give the way forward on how the mistake should have been handled, the mistake is never mentioned. What repeatedly happens to give a false impression of fallibility is that only the technical aspects are considered for discussions at the conference.

The three actions that a physician can take to face guilt are confession, restitution, and absolution.

The problem with confession is that there are so many technical details that make it difficult for a layperson to understand hence the nature of the mistake is hidden.

Restitution is difficult since in a physician’s work some things cannot be restored such as life.

The problem with absolution is the fact that physicians don’t admit errors to their patients, hence they remain not forgiven.