ABSTRACT
The rst public conference on the subject of errors and accidents that occur in the medical system was held in 1996 in Rancho Mirage, California. The audience was composed of a small group of experts. They were surprised to see the parents of a 7-year-old child who had died after a routine operation to remove a benign tumor in his ear, come up to the stage. The parents were joined by the physicians who treated the child, the operating room nurse, the hospital’s lawyers, representatives of the family’s insurance company, and the family’s lawyers. The discussion was moderated by a well-known TV personality. The story they told left the audience with goose bumps.
