medical errors

"The Patient's Playbook is a ... narrative of personal stories that imparts lessons and illuminates strategies for better, and even life-saving, medical decision-making.... the book presents the most effective approach to getting the best from a broken system: sourcing excellent doctors, choosing the right treatment protocols in the "no mistake zone," researching with precision, and structuring the ideal support team..."--Provided by publisher.

Unnecessary death rarely happens at the hands of doctors, but it does happen. Sometimes the cause is medical error. But sometimes the cause is politics. The issues underlying many medical catastrophes are numerous: a power struggle between providers, uncertainty over who?s in charge, hesitation to practice good medicine for fear of being fired, specialization run amok, part-time doctoring. Doctors often prefer to ignore the problems, but patient safety demands that they be aired.

Presents a discussion of medical errors, examining case studies in an effort to understand why they happen, and advocating the thoughtful application of the principles of systems thinking to the medical industry in an attempt to curtail the problem.