ABSTRACT
The healthcare authority in one state of the country in which I currently live has a swift solution for its second victims. It routinely reports them to the Crime and Misconduct Commission. This commission was originally set up to deal with organized crime and it has made clear that it is not interested in cases that stem from adverse events in healthcare. But it keeps getting them. This is about accountability relationships that have grown contorted. The health authority is afraid that it will get in trouble if it is not seen to deal effectively with possible misconduct by its employees or contractors-in trouble with patients and their lawyers, in trouble with regulators, the government, and the media. The victim of all of this, however, is the individual caregiver: the second victim. If negative effects of second victimhood were not already apparent after an adverse event, then being reported to a commission for organized crime probably ensures that they will be.
