1st Edition

Ethics and Error in Medicine

Edited By Fritz Allhoff, Sandra Borden Copyright 2020
    324 Pages
    by Routledge

    322 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book is a collection of original, interdisciplinary essays on the topic of medical error. Given the complexities of understanding, preventing, and responding to medical error in ethically responsible ways, the scope of the book is fairly broad. The contributors include top scholars and practitioners working in bioethics, communication, law, medicine and philosophy. Their contributions examine preventable causes of medical error, disproportionate impacts of errors on vulnerable populations, disclosure and apology after discovering medical errors, and ethical issues arising in specific medical contexts, such as radiation oncology, psychopathy, and palliative care. They also offer practical recommendations for respecting autonomy, distributing burdens and benefits justly, and minimizing injury to patients and other stakeholders. Ethics and Error in Medicine will be of interest to a wide range of researchers, students, and practitioners in bioethics, philosophy, communication studies, law, and medicine who are interested in the ethics of medical error.

    Foreword



    Michael S. Pritchard





    1. Introduction: Medicine, Mistakes, and Moral Evaluation



    Sandra L. Borden



    Part I: Questions of Justice



    2. Medical Error and Moral Luck



    Fritz Allhoff



    3. Toward a Restorative Just Culture Approach to Medical Error



    Jeremy R. Garrett and Leslie Ann McNolty



    4. Rehabilitating Blame



    Samuel Reis-Dennis



    Part II: Communication and Risk



    5. A Communication-Based Approach to Safeguarding against Medical Errors: The Case of Palliative Care



    Leah Omilion-Hodges



    6. Communicating about Technical Failures in Assisted Reproductive Technology



    Rashmi Kudesia and Robert Rebar



    7. Respecting Patient Autonomy in Radiation Oncology and Beyond



    Megan Hyun and Alexander Hyun



    Part III: Vulnerable Populations



    8. Medical Over-testing and Racial Distrust



    Luke Golemon



    9. The Epistemology of Medical Error in an Intersectional World



    Devora Shapiro



    10. The Harm of Ableism: Medical Error and Epistemic Injustice



    Joel Michael Reynolds and David Pena-Guzman



    11. Error and Determinations of Decision-Making Competence in Mentally Ill Patients



    Kelsey Gipe



    Part IV: Learning from Error



    12. Medical Error as a Collaborative Learning Tool



    Jordan Wadden



    13. Inference to the Best Explanation and Avoiding Diagnostic Error



    David Kyle Johnson



    14. Psychopathy Treatment and the Stigma of Yesterday's Research



    Rasmus Larsen



    15. Reducing Medical Errors through Simulation: An Ethical Alternative for Training Medical Practitioners



    T.J. Broy, Maureen Hirthler, Robin Rockhold, and Ralph Didlake

    Biography

    Fritz Allhoff is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Western Michigan University. He has had fellowships in the Institute for Ethics of the American Medical Association and in the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford Law School. His books have been published by Oxford University Press, University of Chicago Press, and others.





    Sandra L. Borden is Professor in the School of Communication and Director of the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society at Western Michigan University. Her books include the award-winning Journalism as Practice: MacIntyre, Virtue Ethics and the Press (Ashgate 2007; Routledge 2009).

    "This collection of essays offers an engaging treatment of the applied ethical concerns arising in connection with medical error, tackling questions of autonomy, consent, disclosure, and apology. Summing Up: Highly recommended."Choice Reviews