ABSTRACT
This chapter explicates and evaluates the concept of medical error. Unlike standard philosophical approaches to analyzing medical phenomena in the abstract, it instead addresses medical error specifically within the context of an embodied social world. It illustrates how, as a deeply contextual concept, medical error is inextricably tied to the social conditions—and concrete, powerful interests—of the particulars in which it is found. The chapter begins with an analysis that demonstrates the relational quality of medical error as a functional, outcome-oriented concept, evaluating the origin and context of the term’s emergence, and connecting it to a similarly contextual concept, “standard of care.” It moves on to note the concerning implications of medical error identification and measurement when viewed through an intersectional standpoint. Intersectional approaches, the chapter explains, focus on how intersections of social identity can unmask social structures that negatively impact groups and individuals. It seems that disparities in social goods (social standing, education, wealth) complicate our identification of medical error, itself, and compound concerns of equity and access to medical goods for those who have diminished expectations for health.
