"I want this to never happen again to another family"

"I want this to never happen again to another family"

Many of those who suffer clinical negligence don't want compensation, but they'd like to have an explanation, an apology, and measures taken to prevent the same thing happening again. Certainly the majority of clinical negligence is not litigated. Of course there are frivolous suits, and also people who received compensation payouts with confidentiality clauses which mean that the issues are not aired in the public domain and problems can be swept under the carpet. These out of court settlements have enabled some of the most notorious medical tortfeasors to continue in medical practice for years before having truly being held to account.

The medical negligence system is not geared towards improvement of the system. There have been innovations, with a notable example being the practice of the University of Michigan healthcare system. They have committed to openness and transparency and addressing any problems, whilst simultaneously robustly defending frivolous lawsuits. They have seen the costs of litigation fall.

What no system in the world can hope to achieve is the aim of ensuring all mistakes will never happen again (apart from the specifically identified "never events"). There are three main reasons for this - 1) human fallibility 2) economics 3) law of unintended consequences.

No system can completely eliminate the possibility and consequences of human error.

No system can afford the resources in terms of materials or man hours to ensure that no mistakes are made.

The effect of a measure to reduce the possibility of error A may be to increase the possibility of error B.

This is not to endorse fatalism or attempts to continually improve healthcare quality, but just an attempt to inject a note of caution and realism.