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Healing The Effects Of Medical Errors: A Vision Of Justice As Wholeness, Christiane Catharine Schubert

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Medical errors cannot be avoided completely even when employing the greatest care and applying the most sophisticated medical technologies. They occur when organizational, human, technical, or environmental factors lead to unintentional failures which result in recognizable physical, mental, spiritual, or social harm to patients. Until recently, the medical profession has responded with silence while patients remained uncompensated or resorted to the legal system. Professional distancing undermines transparency and patient safety while medical malpractice litigation ruptures the fragile relationships between patients and healthcare providers in whom patients trust. Philosophically, these responses draw on the framework of deontological liberalism, promoting notions of …