Blame

After listening to KM's story, I said, "That could hardly be called a medical incident. If our colleague from that other department did not do the appropriate steps and missed the diagnosis, we should talk to his boss so that some relevant education (em ... in whatever sense you like to believe) could be given. But if he had done the things in an acceptable standard, there's nothing to blame."

"Quite true," my friend agreed, "We learn a lesson, of course, but there is no hard-and-fix rule under the sun saying that we could always make the correct diagnosis if we do everything appropriately. But what if their doings are not up to the international standard ? Say for example, you cannot make a diagnosis of heart attack in the emergency room because you work in one that has no ECG ?"

"In that case, one should blame the policy maker or whoever responsible for the problem - not to the poor clinician who has to see the patient without a ECG ..." I thought for another while and asked, "Is there a channel for some high authority to examine the case and decide crossing out the AIRS ?"

Listening to our discussion, CB added, "That high authority are actually nurses who migrated outside the solar system since the last millennium. All they do is to ask for reports from all parties !"