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The Heart of the Matter

To Blame or Not to Blame? The Medical Profession and Blame Culture. Traditionally, medicine has been taught by imitation, apprenticeship and humiliation. Think Sir Lancelot Spratt. Whilst that has clearly improved, there persists, in many areas, a blame culture. Following regulatory changes and various hospital scandals there is much 'holding to account'. The combination of tradition and punitive language has done little to foster a just culture, which most researchers think is the ideal. There is increasing litigation and subsequent cost, and it remains the case in the UK that negligence has to be proved to get compensation for medical accident. This lecture reviews the current situation and considers some other ways of dealing with the issues.

Martin Elliott is Gresham Professor of Physic and Co-Medical Director at The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London (GOSH). He led the cardiorespiratory and thoracic transplant teams at GOSH for many years, and established, and is Director of the National Service for Severe Tracheal Disease in Children, the largest such service in the world. (from gresham.ac.uk)

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