If you have ever had much to do with those who work in the medical profession you’ll know that doctors are not dumb. They’re generally intelligent, highly trained people. They’re usually also keen to help their patients as best they can.
So what explains some of the stupid mistakes that doctors make? Mistakes that the average person without medical training might be sure they would not have made.
Often it comes down to distraction
It is incredibly easy to get distracted in this modern world. It’s one of the reasons for the explosions in mindfulness classes and retreats where you pay to disconnect in order to reconnect with what matters.
As you read this, your attention may be being tugged at by a range of things from a crying child to a pinging phone to thoughts about what you need to buy for dinner. It’s the same for doctors. They too have a range of things competing for their attention. The difference is that when most people get distracted it’s harmless – or annoying, at worst – but a doctor losing their focus while dealing with a patient could be harmful.
It is hard, or perhaps even impossible to take away all distractions in a doctor’s workplace. You can’t force every patient and visitor to stay silent. You can’t control what is happening on the street outside the building. And you can’t even ban electronic devices as doctors need to be easily contactable and many of those devices help them do their job. What can and should happen is that steps are taken to minimize distractions and that protocols are in place to catch the mistakes that will inevitably occur, before harm results.
If you or a loved one does suffer harm due to a doctor’s distraction, you may need to learn more about what preventative measures were in place and whether you can claim compensation.