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  • Such a fantastically brave speech. Dr. Goldman inspires me with confidence that one day we will have a medical system that truly works for the good of the patient, as opposed to the good of the lawyers. What i find really sad, even more so than the current state of affairs in the medical system, is that such a thought provoking and inspiring video only gets 40 odd thousand views, when a monkey drinking its own piss can score millions :-/

  • From Paramedic to Physician. Happy he mentioned Paramedics as a part of his speech.

  • ...

  • His batting average is probably .999 - He is human. You can't expect him to be perfect every time.

  • One of the best and most desperately needed TED Talks of all time.

  • this man deserves his second name...

  • I believe we must admit that no one is perfect, but patients put their lives on the line when they trust a doctor. How many of you here have been to a doctor, and she/he doesn't even pay much attention and ushers u out after prescribing some simple medicine and carries on with the never ending queue? yes doctors are busy but we shouldnt be regarded as merely queue numbers right? this lack of concern in healthcare CAUSES mistakes

  • I would trust my life to this guy

  • though the value of de-mystifying mistakes may seem elusive, it's an important talk. if we don't begin from a place of truth, an environment that encourages it; then we can't really expect to advance our understanding as we could. The practical benefit is that doctors would be less stressed (to be perfect), which then leads to less mistakes. Patients would have more realistic expectations to make better decisions. While openness only helps patient-doctor communication, avoiding yet more mistakes

  • ...

  • On the other end of the spectrum; a problem is that patients expect doctors to never, ever make mistakes and are trigger happy at suing when a problem does arise. Their expectations of the medical staff treating them is excrutiating and easily leads to a culture of fear of openly acknowledging mistakes.

  • @NotForHire42 How do we fix that? How do we fix patients? How do we fix people?

  • Doctors make one mistake over a million times per year in the US when they amputate the healthy normal foreskin of an infant who can not give consent. NOT ONE national medical association on earth endorses routine infant circumcision.

  • @TLCTugger Go start a blog about it. If anyone cares about your point they will go to it. Otherwise stop spamming.

  • There is a gap in the theory here: Goldman pegs the necessity of talking about errors on the idea that it will prevent the same mistakes from being made again. But, he also clearly sees that mistakes are simply inevitable. You can't "memorize everything" including a flood of anecdotes about mistakes, and hope not to make any. It wasn't not-knowing how to look for appendicitis that made him miss it, nor "remembering to remember to consider appendicitis" that would stop him from missing it again.

  • @murfleblurg I guess he wants people to accept medical errors as well as they accept errors in other fields, since doctors usually do very well in their careers.

  • brilliant.

    

  • An environment that allows self-disclosure is a good start, but the solution also need a team approach to reduce the chance that something will be missed.

  • I have a problem with this comparison between medicine and baseball, simply for the fact that the outcomes from medical mistakes are potentially catastrophic. Not so in baseball.

  • Is anyone really under the illusion that doctors are infallible? Surely everybody is aware of the risk that even a very competent doctor, as in any profession, could make an error. I suppose sick people don't really want to accept that.

  • i used to be a chef ,i remember once saying i am glad i am not a doctor as when i make a mistake i only burn someones meal.

  • NO human being is perfect. 

  • I really REALLY like this guy.

  • Excellent talk! Learning from mistakes is such a basic part of being human, it's almost frightening to think mistakes are buried to this extent because of shame.

  • @MrClonazapam I agree with your statement 100% and thank you for making it.

  • i think you can apply this to any job, or live situation. too many ppl pretend to be perfect.

  • So glad I am a web developer.

    I have never heard of a website killing anyone.

  • @celshader Smile!

  • @celshader how bout those pro anorexia sites, or those sites that help ppl kill themselves. o0o0 and those kids bullied on facebook that killed themselves. and all those ppl addicted to porn that have "no life" xD

  • You would think by now I'd have learned my lesson about scrolling down lower than the video frame...

  • ECHO Echo echo....Could they maybe turn down the reverb please?....

  • Its not only medical culture that needs a revival. Its our entire economic culture which is based on adam smith. Capitalism doesn't produce the culture necessary for the best results. Islam does. Islam is the solution.

  • Comment removed

  • Best line - "i'm human and I make mistakes but strive to learn...' that's an attitude that i'm striving to adopt for myself.

    acceptance but the willingness to persevere in spite of the recognized imperfections.

  • @ancestralblue I suggest you start keeping your comments to yourself, instead of looking like an uninformed fool.

    I sense a lot of animosity regarding healthcare cost. And I really sorry for those who are at the mercy of the system/insurance companies. But doctors aren't sucking your money. Many of us struggle to pay our student loads back even in our 30s. Health care is simply expensive, but rightly so, since we are after all dealing with the commodity called human life.

  • @cheongla It's not just about cost...It's about the lies that the health industry uses to pressure people into toxic treatments that lead to their deaths. Like chemo and so, so many other poisonous treatments. And human life is not a commodity. It's given by God...not man...But beliefs like yours are what gives the doctor the idea that he is God. If anybody is misinformed it's somebody who believes tripe like that.

  • A brave talk. Now I would like to see a military leadr or a politician doing the same.

  • Beautifully honest! We sometimes forget doctors are human. I hope this talk helps more physicians open up.

  • There was an airline which started rewarding its pilots for coming clean about their mistakes, rather than punishing them for it, and the result was that crashes and errors dropped by more than half...

  • Yeah, doctors make too much money and go to school for too long to make mistakes on the job. Chances are, if you are making mistakes as a doctor you probably shouldn't be one.

  • @Narasamsa

    Typical attitude of someone who failed to get into medical school.

  • @Mrmoc7 If you took two seconds to visit my channel you would have known I was a graphic designer. I have way too much integrity to have ever wanted to get involved in "western medicine". I hope everything looks cool from way up their on your high chair, buddy.

  • @Narasamsa There are absolutely no studies that corrolate high income with quality work or performance. Furthermore... you could argue only two things here: the average work time of a doctor is too high on any given day and they have to see too many patients in too little time to truly understand their patients. So the problems revolve much more around administrative querks rather than a defficiency in actual knowledge of medecine or skill.

  • @GeofsFilms So basically you are saying, "In order to reduce mistakes, doctors must see fewer patients and therefor take a paycut, which we all know isn't going to happen." Is that about right?

  • @Narasamsa Well it depends on what kind of healthcare a private hospital wants, public hospital or even what a country wants to offer. If, like we are in Canada, doctors are rare becauser they go work for the USA at higher wages, then you are pretty much stuck with a system that makes doctors you have left work 60-80 hours a week. They would be much better at their jobs if they worked 35-45 hours... like all work studies have proven over the past decades. So, yes, to your question.

  • @GeofsFilms So in other words, doctors take on as many patients as they can because the more patients they see, the more money they make, then they begin to make mistakes because they are seeing too many patients. So doctors make mistakes because they value money more than they value the well-being of their patients or how how well they perform as a professional. Thank you for clearing that up, but I already knew that.

  • @Narasamsa In Canada we have some doctors who choose not to work in Hostpitals... they go work in places called CLSC which are a kind of miniature hospital for anything except major trauma. Those doctors work 40 hours a week and get paid around 50k / year. They often group together near a pharmacy to handle more cases and do less hours in private clinics owned by them. The doctors we lose to the USA, for the pay check, are those you are talking about.

  • I applaud you for your honesty and for listening to the small voice within. Everyone knew this anyway, it's nice to hear from a doctor. You and other doctors are only human. We all make mistakes. If all shared like you did, maybe we will make lesser. Bravo!!

  • +1 A very good talk!

  • One of the best TED talks I've ever seen. I'm a fourth year medical student and every now and then a courageous physician like Brian Goldman tells us the most terrible mistakes he/she made so she won't repeat them. It really does make a difference.

  • now if only a big name ceo would come up and fess like this..

  • so many stupid comments here!

    its really simple. by admitting doctors are human and can make mistakes, means that we can devote resources to system improvements (such as backups, as he mentions) to double check and better catch those mistakes.

    you cant look for or fix something you dont admit exists ... so his point is to admit it, share it, teach it, learn it and improve it ...

  • great talk. we are all human, we all make mistakes :) the worst thing you can actually do is not to make an error, but to pretend that you didn't. trying to cover up mistakes, that only leads to more errors

  • @ancestralblue You sir are clueless idiot :)

  • @Arwiiss No...those who follow mainstream medicine, whose treatments are to say the least... toxic, are the idiots who lend to their own demise. Sad but true Try looking at "cancer patients" having chemo foisted on them that is known to cause secondary cancers who then die from those secondary cancers. Such stuff goes on and on. And people like you have been conditioned to accept it as valid without question. That's REALLY sad. It's about the money and nothing more.

  • @ancestralblue No the problem is people like you. No education, no medical background and you think you are an expert. You sit and you watch an honest doctor saying how it really is and all you do is spread bullshit. Honestly your argument is so ill informed and so ignorant that I wouldn't usually comment. But to think you have right to direct this pitiful waffle at someone else is another matter. Keep your idiocy to yourself and defame such a great talk

  • @ptolomey12 Saying how it really is? It's about the money Pal...and not about saving people. If it was about being a true healer, the money would not be a question and insurance would not be the first thing you are asked about when you go to their service. And if you don't have money, they would not be putting liens on your home if you can't come up with the cash. That whole issue is bullshit, but, that is what they do. Allopathy is a money making game and not about healing.

  • @ancestralblue I would like to ask you one question. Please explain to me what Cancer is? Don't reply to me if you don't. No one believes the crap you believe who knows what Cancer really is. Either you don't know, choose to ignore it or are grossly misinformed about it. So, explain it to me. Don't reply to me with anything else because I won't respond and it'll just prove my point.

  • @Rationalist411 Nobody truly knows what cancer is...Certainly not the league of salespeople that are touting chemo... But at $350,000 per run of treatment, they'll keep pushing it till the bank runs dry. There have been numbers of healers who've found ways to suppress it and bring the body back into balance often eliminating it. Google the video Cut, Poison, Burn and Burzynski and the Google Harry Hoxie, Max Gershon, the Essiac Cure. See mind/body medicine.

  • @ancestralblue LOL No one knows what Cancer is! We do know and that's why people who aren't ignorant about it realize it can't be cured as easily as the ignorant say so (like you). Keep ranting about money because in Canada, where I and this video is filmed, it costs us around $700 in government insurance a year (or lower if you have less income yes it's based on income not health). Anyway thank you for proving my point that you are ignorant of the human body.

  • @Rationalist411 It is about the money and obviously you opted to not look at any of those videos and names that were posted. As far as what causes cancer...It depends on who you talk to. Since Big Pharma claims that only toxins, radiation and surgery can be used on cancers they opt not to examine what others have found about the causatives. That's not something that people like you are open to hearing. You are owned by the mainstream and you look like one of their minions.

  • @ancestralblue When you learn about the human body THEN AND ONLY THEN may you you have an opinion about this. I DO. How can you even have an opinion about this and think you have a valid opinion when you don't know anything basic of the human body like what Cancer is (It's taught in high school biology in Canada). You obviously have no idea about what Cancer research is doing or anything. When you come out of your bliss then you may have an opinion.

  • @Rationalist411 have a question for you...Since you are so knowledgeable about the science of healthcare...What are the causes of cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias. And Where did the aids virus come from?

  • @ancestralblue Let me guess, you believe the US government made AIDS or some government. Let me explain that to you. Forms of HIV have been around for hundreds of thousand years. This one form only infected chimps and other primates but a genetic mutation (Evolution) made it jump to humans. It's kind of similar to Cancer since cancer is a genetic mutation of Mitosis. I know your ears are filled with wax and you will just ignore this.

  • @Rationalist411 And I know that you are indoctrinated not "educated". It's so very obvious that you tote the Big Pharma agenda around on your back. What do they pay you? And you didn't answer the question about cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias. You know, it was an old Ojibway medicine man who had none of your indoctrination that that taught Rene Caisse how to make an herbal cure for cancer. But, she was attacked of course, it had to go as it interfered with Big Pharma profits.

  • @ancestralblue Yea you caught me. Pharma pays me 100 million dollars a DAY. HAHAHAHAHAHA You are so smart how did you caught. LOL I just told you why Cancer can't be cured easily and you just close you ears and scream LALALALALALALALALALA. Have a nice IGNORANT LIFE. I guess IGNORANCE IS BLISS.

  • @Rationalist411 Dearie...Anybody with a half a brain, which is what you have, left hemisphere dominant, can catch you. There have been cures for cancer for over a hundred years that were conveniently stomped out by Big Pharma. Again...go google Harry Hoxie, Rene Caisse (the Essiac Cure), Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski and while your at it Dr. Tulio Simoncini. And see the videos, Burzynski and Cut, Poison, Burn.

     But that's really for others as you have wax in your eyes.

  • @ancestralblue You going to have a hissy fit? You know nothing about Organic Chemistry, Human Biology, or Biology. I'm done talking to you. I made my point everyone here can see you are ignorant. The worst thing an ignorant person can do is deny it. Anyway STOP REPLYING TO ME. IGNORANCE IS BLISS.

  • @Rationalist411 You know what you're indoctrinated with. And you still didn't answer the question about cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias. And yes...everyone can see that you are not much more than arrogant, easily flummoxed and without a balanced leg to stand on. And by the way...you've lost your way in all of this and so you'd like me to go away. That's not much more than a temper tantrum...

  • @ancestralblue I'm no saying anything to you anymore. GOODBYE.

  • @Rationalist411 Bye Babe! I guess your "education" did fail and you couldn't answer.

  • @Rationalist411 PS turkey...you still didn't answer the question about cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias...What happened? Did your indoctrination fail you yet again? You poor guy! Guess it isn't all that you've cracked it up to be. So much for your version of "education".

  • @ancestralblue Why so you can just ignore it and say I'm paid off by pharma? OH WAIT I AM. Shit I've said too much. Anyone who shows you what you every scientist in the world believes and you just either say they are paid off. You don't have the intellectual integrity to hold an INTELLECTUAL CONVERSATION. I'm DONE HERE.

  • @Rationalist411 I'm sure you are and likely part of the priesthood of science that calls everything outside of what it knows heretical.  That's coming unglued. And it's become well known that 45% of scientists admit that they slant studies in favor of who it is that funds them. And YES...it is about the money.

  • @Rationalist411 PS again...where's the answer to that question? Should I repeat it again or is the only answer that you have is trying to insult...It won't work...Your attitude is childish and defensive. Poor baby!

  • @ancestralblue GOODBYE. You are now blocked. Get a life. Why would I talk to a person will just resort to saying you are paid off or are indoctrinated to refute things. It has no intellectual integrity. I have tried to end this over 10 times. Even before you asked me your questions. GET A LIFE. You've been blocked.

  • Comment removed

  • @Rationalist411 Well anyone can look up that one...It was developed in the laboratory and spread via hepatitis vaccines.But people like you will do anything to protect that bottom line and the monkey dung that goes with it.What does the drug treatment run nowadays, eh? I hear that there have been countries that could provide it for about a dollar a day,but, the Clinton administration on behalf of Big Pharma threatened sanctions against any country that did. Isn't it amazing?

  • @ancestralblue Lets take the British system. Where healthcare is provided free of charge to the entire population. The money for this system comes from the government which is in turn funded by taxes. So here it is in everyone interest to treat effectively and as cheaply as possible. Other health systems exist across the world which function in the same way. So your argument really does not hold up. Allopathy is effective. It's saved millions of lives, alternative medicine has not. FACT

  • @ancestralblue Do not feed the troll. Just be proud that you know more than he does and move on. That guy will only retort with a response more moronic than his previous statement. Such a mind does not deserve any attention from a much more sophisticated mind; assuming you are more intelligent between the two of you.

  • @TheVoiiceBox I appreciate what your saying...I'm just rather tired of seeing people that I love hand themselves over to mainstream medicine to die of the treatments. It IS their choice,but, when the Doctor God notion is finally broken, and it is happening everywhere, those who do become ill can make some real healing choices and not just give their power away to a salesperson from Big Pharma. But the absolute authority notion is what keeps them captivated to their demise.

  • @ancestralblue I said once and I'll repeat it again, you sir are an idiot. Chances are you are one of those new gen spoiled kids which take everything for granted. You live your wealthy life thinking that everything should be solved by someone else and than moan on those someone else because they cannot deliver cure for cancer or HIV. Put an effort in gaining actual knowledge instead of listening to zeitgeist like bullshit.

  • @Arwiiss Wealthy? Hah...that's a hoot! The medical schools do not provide true knowledge of healing. What they provide is the indoctrination for a sales career. Their science is based on slanted studies that favor Big Pharma treatments that are pretty well known to backfire due to their toxicity and their ability to off balance body chemistry. Did you know that most testing of Big Pharma products is now carried on outside of this country in places like India?

  • @ancestralblue Try researching as simple thing as how your bread ends up on the shelve of your local store. We all know 3 step process: wheat > bakery > store but this process is utter bullshit for 5 years old to get basic principle. An actual process is at least 10 times longer. That's how complex it's to deliver a simple thing as bread to your local store. Now medicine is whole another field with even more processes than that. Bottom line is, stop taking things for granted.

  • @Arwiiss It has nothing to do to do with bread... And if anything is taken for granted it's that allopathy is about healing people and for the good of mankind...It's not...Allopathy does in fact make it a mission to destroy true healers. Go watch the video "Cut,Poison, Burn about how the FDA and mainstream medicine have let people die of cancer rather than giving them a choice about cures. Then Google Max Gershon, Harry Hoxie, the Essiac Cure and Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski.

  • @ancestralblue That's what this video is about that people and medicine makes mistakes but if you look statistically this medicine works never mind what your narrow mind believes. Here's the fact for you, average life expectancy used to be 30 years back in egyptian days, now it's over 60. Do you still think their wisdom and methods were better even tho they knew shit to nothing about human anatomy and chemistry involved? Why than they had twice as short life expectancy?

  • Very inspirational..

  • Give this man a fucking mircophone! The echo is killing it!

  • I do not see doctors as infallible, but the problem is that so many of them behave as though they are. If you do research and ask informed questions, or worse commit the crime of suggesting a possible diagnosis (or rejecting theirs in some cases), you run a serious risk of annoying your doctor (possibly causing them to have contempt for you, which you certainly don't want your doc to have). They tend to generalize and sometimes you know more about your body than they do.

  • @Aprilshowersss To be fair, the expectations for doctors to know everything and never make mistakes could certainly contribute to that behavior, because they have to behave that way, or at least they're told to. Arrogance is usually a front for insecurity.

  • masterfully said. Beyond the weight and truth of the content, he makes one helluva speech!

  • I am currently a resident in internal medicine. and this guy is right.

  • I wonder what is Obama's batting average?

  • Damn..this is inspiring

  • amazing i have chills...

  • This talk is perfect for all of us. We expect Doctors, Surgeons, etc to be flawless. I have come to the understanding that there are doctors that think they know it all. and I have just met a doctor yesterday while he was treating my dad that he will do his best and gave his knowledge and what he is intending on doing next. and referring to the demi-God complex PEOPLE DON'T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW UNTIL THEY FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOU CARE!

  • great talk, doctor Goldman, hope in Europe doctors had the same courage to admit that they make mistakes too. AND IT IS NOT JUST ABOUT DOCTORS AND MEDICINE, GUYS. IT IS ABOUT ETHICS. IT IS ABOUT POLITICIANS, CEOS, ARTISTS, GURUS, SPORTSMAN - EVERYBODY. US.

  • GREAT!

  • Excellent. Actually most patients start out with delusions that doctors are demi-gods, but sooner or later, we learn to our disappointment that they're fallible and occasionally stupid. The ones we really trust are the ones who don't pretend to be omniscient, but care enough to do their best.

  • i have a life-long bone condition due to doctors making mistakes and then covering it up, denying me treatment.

  • READ MY POST BELOW FIRST: ... cont... there would be a final set of questions to rule out the 'finalists' of diagnoses, as well as a set of questions to rule out circumstantial symptoms? (e.g. the one he mentioned in the video would be 'did you drink any alcohol last night / today'?), in the appendicitis cases - in the final questions there would be 'is there any abdominal tenderness?' - essentially this wud be just ruling out mirror and circumstantial symptoms, esp with life threatings illness?

  • @platinummediauk I'm a physician and there are some existing forms of this now. Most perform at or less than the average clinician's judgement when studied. A problem is that the variables are too many, and we don't know them all. Experts, physicians in this case, thin slice (Ref. Blink by M. Gladwell). They use the information they say they use, and then some more information they might not know their using (based on circumstances, experience, trends, stereotypes... etc.). I hope this helps

  • @floatingthought Hi thanks for your reply and information - just one question - do you think it's possible that we would ever be able to improve a system like that, build it, 'open-source' style, connecting doctors, nurses and their ideas worldwide to figure out the variables - essentially do you think it would be possible in theory, to use a system like that to reduce the margin of error? Just in theory - obviously if so it would be worth persuing, if not then leave it alone...

  • this may be a stupid question - but, consideration the understaffing of doctors, the sleep deprivation, the 'human error', and the way doctors might 'approach the same case differently each time dependent on sometimes fleeting/circumstantial symptoms' mentioned in this video - is there not some level of automation that could be implemented to reduce the margin of error? Suppose you took the medical textbooks and configured a database of symptoms-to-ailments; so that for each diagnosis ...cont...

  • people like this man, is the reason i believe we can become a perfect race, oh what i dream for the future

  • This was phenomenal. Truly worthy of the TED-title!

  • WHEN DOCTORS MAKE MISTAKES PEOPLE DIE!! - HOUSE

  • @gimmi1 But... doctors are still human. Why do we expect them to not be?

  • @gimmi1 LOL! - A new doctor :-)

  • @gimmi1 Good thing House is a fictional character, then!

  • @HighProphetOfRegret nevertheless what he said was true

  • @gimmi1 Since mistakes are inevitable, deaths are inevitable. Ironically, however, the only hope for minimizing mistakes is to encourage a culture openness about mistakes.

  • @tantzer yep...but lets hope that this openness about mistakes will not lead to an increase in mistakes...doctors must constantly be vigilant no matter how tired they already are..treat every patient as their most important case. unfortunate as it may sound a doctors life is tough. They have to realize its someone else s life they have power over

  • @gimmi1 sharing that mistake and letting people learn from you might prevent more people from dying

  • Amazing that's exactly how I feel working in the medical field

  • Also the doctors need a culture that doesn't sue everyone in sight for making an honest mistake.

    Unfortunately some doctors do make too many mistakes and should find another profession. Not everyone is a caring doctor or graduated at the top of their class.

  • Bullshit my dad lost a leg when i was a kid because a doctor for the same fucking mistake. The doctor told him his leg had suffered minor bruising and send him home after a car accident, my dad insisted it was more than bruising of course 3 days later were back at the hospital and their telling us they need to remove the leg. Fuck this guy

  • @warrior152 by providing an example and attacking him, you're really just proving his point, that doctors are human and thus make errors, which people have a really hard time accepting. Granted, the errors they make are costly, so he's saying this whole idea of perfectionism can't go on.

    I'm sorry about your dad's leg though.

  • Unlikely to occur in a monetary system. When you are incentivized to acquire and horde money, and prevent others from learning about your mistakes that could cost you or your employer money, then there is no incentive to share that kind of information, and no support given to those that make those mistakes. A resource based economy that valued life would incentivize the kind of support and information sharing described.

  • Good points. Now to get people to understand that mistakes do happen, accidents do happen, and everything should not be a "lawsuit waiting in the wings." We need to control incompetence or not caring, but we are not perfect and shouldn't be expected to be.

  • @Cartwrightsrule Yeah since american doctors are going out of thier way to admit mistakes all the time and there are no malpractice suits at all!

  • Human beings are story tellers. We tell stories to help each other to prepare for possible future scenarios. To discourage this is the biggest mistake of all. I am completely with Brian on this. Great talk!

  • Healing the system with infomatics. That's the way it works in sports and ballet, being the best you can be with a great coach. You have the job, doc.

  • In a less personal way, others including physicians have been arguing for changes to the system. Just a few years ago doctors, nurses, and others had to be reminded a new hospital hand-washing project applied to them. Someone else wanted an upending of hospital hierarchy, stating nurses wont correct a physician on procedure because they'd be yelled at. Nice this guy is adding to the calls for change.

  • AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH THE ECHOOOOOOOOOOOO

  • when will ted go HD???

  • bravo.

  • thank you Doctor you were excellent.

  • You can't fix dead stupid

  • considering how much these overpaid asshole get there should not be any mistakes. My auto mechanic and carpenter don't make nearly as many as these ungrateful over paid charlatans, unless they are ripping you off. It's all about money and this guy is in the clouds This Dr.Goldstien! oh! no! not another Jewish Doctor. guess he don't want to talk about gardisil

  • @Mystery207 I completely agree...they're swimming in money , they should go through the details of each patient to avoid these careless mistakes!

  • @collegemuse Go volunteer in a hospital for one day; I'll bet its a bit different than what you envision.

  • @Mystery207

    "overpaid asshole"

    is THAT why medical professionals go well into their late 40's and early fifties before finally paying for their education?

    oh, maybe it has something to do with having some of the highest overhead in the country?

    there are far easier ways to make better money, if you don't know that you're woefully ignorant of reality.

  • This guy is revolutionary

  • Deeply, greatly touching... i find this inspiring

  • This was hard to listen to because it is all true. We cannot expect each and every doctor to be perfect 100 percent of the time. It's impossible. There is too much knowledge to absorb and these guys don't work in a vacuum. They all screw up at some point. The medical culture of perfectionism, the arrogance, the shame, the fear of being outed and ultimately sued, all add to the incentive for doctors to remain silent about each case. very sad indeed.

  • Watching TED with headphones is harming my ears!

  • My arm was completely destroyed by a psychotic doctor who convinced my parents to let him perform two completely unnecessary surgeries when I was a child. Most doctors are unfit to be near people, let alone kids. I don't think this guy is terribly funny making jokes about botched surgeries.

  • Excellent talk - I could not agree more with every one of his points - yes there is a certain aspect of practicing defensive medicine and trying not to get sued - however what was so impressive and liberating about Dr. Goldman narrative - is how he accurately portrayed how we physicians live "alone in a crowded room" when it comes to both medical error and deficiencies in knowledge. I believe he speaks more to the culture that we doctors create for ourselves and for our students.

  • people blame doctors being "self contained" with their lack of "communication skills". but then if everyone didn't sue doctors for EVERYTHING (esp. complications out of their control), can you blame them ?

  • what will happen to a world if doctors finding that it is ok to make mistakes?

  • @virtualgoh This isn't suggesting that mistakes are "ok," he's giving this speech to tell people that we need to share our mistakes in order to prevent them

  • @virtualgoh

    you mean in a world where we acknowledge that they're human? not much, really.

  • Healing after doing wrong.....tricky stuff. Look at South Africa after Apartheid. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is what worked. TRUTH and RECONCILIATION.

    Many of these brilliant people have not a humble bone in their body. Of course there will be resentment when a loved one or self is harmed. Our system is broken. The healing has to start somewhere.

  • Ahh! It was great up until he said 'sorry' at the end!

  • Fantastic talk Dr. Goldman! That took a great deal of courage to do what you did. Absolutely commendable

  • @cinderdork Killing a person from neglect is not commendable.

  • @mnagmobile1 recognizing a mistake and talking about it is

  • Thank You for your honesty. You are very brave.

  • One of my favorite TED talks. Anyone who can show such humility deserves to be listened to.

  • Maybe the problem is the whole blame game. A mistake was made, the cost determined, and somebody must always be blamed and pay that cost. When the cost is a human life, and a family become one member short, they deal with their anger and loss by punishing whoever made the mistake, with expensive lawsuits and hate. Regardless of how small that mistake was.

  • It looks like we need a Malpractice Anonymous.

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  • They say when you're a doctor it's not if you kill a patient it's when you kill a patient. Some doctors make honest mistakes while others are incompetent. Some care only about what happens to them because of the mistake and not what happens to the patient.

  • get rid of the ominous, terror-rooted "criminalization" and priority and determination to issue CONSEQUENCE & PUNISHMENT - IT'S FUCKING RETARDED. that means "stunted growth".

    the mistake ALREADY DELIVERS THE NATURAL CONSEQUENCE. anything more than that is sadistic perpetuation of a body of life known as HELL-BENT HUMANITY

    a person is NOT going to own or admit a mistake when there's NO INCENTIVE AND INSTEAD, a guarantee of consequence.

    hi, can we say growth & progress?

  • To err is human.

  • @Mrmoc7 fucking platitude. Please don't say useless crap. K thx

  • @Brust90

    Wow, you took the time out of your day just to tell me how much you disliked my four word sentence? .......