Brian Goldman: Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that?

http://www.ted.com Every doctor makes mistakes. But, says physician Brian Goldman, medicine's culture of denial (and shame) keeps doctors from ever talking about those mistakes, or using them to learn and improve. Telling stories from his own long practice, he calls on doctors to start talking about being wrong.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate

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[HRRyan2]

I really REALLY like this guy.

[MrClonazapam]

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. 

[chillztah]

could you please tell us how you found out that medical errors takes more lives than heart disease or cancers? for the sake of the discussion i really hope you base that statement on some serious sources...

according to CDC, cancers and heart disease result in almost 600,000 deaths each.

[nationalhealthaction]

When so-called experts claim that the NHS must have 'not a single case of harm' and that there will be 'no tolerance of harm', they should refer to this video. Rather than encouraging reporting, we are demonising anyone who makes a mistake, as well as anyone who dares to report it. This needs to stop - the culture the NHS needs is one where staff are free to speak out about error and work to improve things - not a culture of rigid enforcement and burying of bad news.

[AFCAARLP1]

Martin O'Neill

[sebah1991]

Do you have a source for that? The center for disease control and prevention (CDC) lists heart disease as number one cause of death (597,689).

[gatewaytobeing]

Excellent. Thank you Dr. Goldman for your honesty and willingness to be real and vulnerable about something so painful to talk about. Medical errors are the NUMBER ONE cause of death and disability in the United States (most people think it's cancer and heart attacks). This video should be required viewing for all practicing physicians and medical students. Standing ovation for you sir!

[TheJudgeRules]

JKSinTo: It is clear that you have not watched the entire video otherwise you would have understood and not made such fucking retarded comments.

If you did watch it and still failed to understand then I'm amazed that your low level of cognitive functioning allows you to use a keyboard at all.

[VoidOnTuesday]

You should watch videos before you comment.

[JKSinTO]

There are some professions we as a society pay quite handsomely NOT to make mistakes, e.g., doctors and engineers. Would Dr. Goldman be as understanding of an engineer who makes an error that makes a building collapse?