During a recent night shift I was called to a patient who obviously was acutely ill. She had been transferred from the ICU to the ward today. Further workup showed she didn’t have urinary tract infection (UTI) as suspected, but: necrotizing fasciitis. She was operated on immediately and survived. The initial misdiagnosis had almost killed her.

On the next day I asked myself whether it was my obligation to call the doctors who (mis-) diagnosed UTI. Should we confront our colleagues with their mistakes? Many doctors will get defensive.

They’ll tell us to mind our own business, when we try to teach them something, especially when they are higher in hierarchy. It can put a strain on our relationship to this doctor and hurt our career. But there is no way around it: Here are three reasons why you don’t have a choice but tell him.

1. Acknowledge that everybody makes mistakes.

   No doctor ever wants to harm patients. It was not on purpose and can and will happen to anybody.

2. Everybody wants to advance in his skills and knowledge.

   Learning from mistakes is absolutely critical for that. If you don’t tell him, there is a chance he’ll never know. He will keep on making the same mistake. If you don’t know you made a mistake you can’t learn from it. So don’t deprive him of a lesson that will help him in his future career. Not only him but also his future patients will profit from it.

3. The hospital is no gossip-free zone.

   Many other doctors already know about this mistake, and can find out, who made the mistake. So it’s his right to know about it, too. He may be questioned by the boss on this case. Or the patient finds out what happened. If you tell him what happened in a respectful way, you give him the chance to 1. reflect on his decisions and have some arguments ready. 2. avert further damage to the patient. 3. apologise to the patient and his relatives.

By the way, I told the doctor, and he was very thankful. by the way, necrotizing fasciitis is one of the most difficult diagnosis to make. Propbably one of the most overseen diagnoses of all…

Question: Have you ever been thankful, that someone told you about a mistake? Leave a comment!