Abstract

FARNOT CARDOSO, Ubaldo. Can we learn from errors of the past?. Rev. cub. salud pública [online]. 2007, vol.33, n.4, pp. 0-0. ISSN 0864-3466.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0864-34662007000400014.

The medical mistakes made during the stages of diagnosis and treatment of the diseases are in a certain way inherent to medical practice, but they need to be constantly reduced. It is usual to consider the physician as the unique responsible for these mistakes, most of which are made at present during the process of introduction and spreading of new technologies. In this article, an attempt is made to remind the doctors the processes by which the new technologies are incorporated to habitual medical practice and how frequently the doctor responsible for the  patient is not the one who directly  introduces or impulses the technology used. On informing the doctors about the observations carried out on the history of the different stages every innovation in medicine pass through, they have the possibility to know their responsibility when a medical mistake is made.  Emphasis is also given to the indispensable scientific scrutiny, and to the necessary periodical technological evaluation of all the procedures being part of medical practice.

Keywords : Medical mistakes; introduction of new techniques; technological evaluation, medical ethics.