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Introduction
The healthcare sector has been evolving over the last few decades occasioned by changing patient needs. The involved stakeholders seek to create an environment that enables patient safety. However, errors happen due to human input in the system. When mistakes occur in the provision of care services, it may be termed as negligence, which is punishable by law. Healthcare practitioners put the patients’ safety first, and when an error occurs, the problem lies in differentiating negligence from a mistake. On the other side, a just culture requires the creation of an open and honest environment where healthcare practitioners can report different occurrences in the workplace to ensure patient safety. This paper explores the criminalization of healthcare negligence within the context of a just culture.
Criminalizing negligence
Healthcare practitioners make errors, which may cause morbidity or mortality. One of the ways to look at such cases is to identify the responsible individual and hold him or her accountable for the mistakes made (Oyebode, 2013). As such, if one is found guilty, he or she is punishable under criminal law. However, the element of criminalizing negligence points to intention, where a practitioner premeditates a given decision and the consequent action. However, this approach has many drawbacks and it may compromise the patients’ safety. For instance, assuming a nurse is supposed to obtain some blood samples for specified tests and he or she forgets. Later on, the patient undergoes a certain medical procedure, which leads to an adverse health outcome. In this case, the nurse will be in a dilemma on whether to confess that the required blood tests were not done to facilitate the right intervention procedures. However, due to the criminalization of negligence, the nurse will be liable, and he or she may face a jail term if found guilty. On the other side, the nurse may decide to withhold information that the blood tests were not carried out in a bid to avoid being culpable for the adverse health outcome.
Criminalizing negligence will encourage a practitioner to withhold information as a protective mechanism from the criminal law. However, this trend contradicts the principle of a just culture where open and honest reporting is encouraged to ensure the patients’ safety. Under this premise, the provision of care occurs within a system whereby practitioners are supposed to report any issue arising during the execution of their duties. Such reporting encourages the improvement of the system to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future (Oyebode, 2013). Therefore, criminalizing negligence cannot occur in the same environment with a just culture. As such, the contentious issue lies in determining which approach serves the best interests of all stakeholders. On one side, healthcare practitioners should be held accountable for their decisions and actions. However, when errors occur, the element of intent, which underscores a crime, should not arise because taking such an approach will hinder the efforts being made to ensure patient safety.
Conclusion
In conclusion, punitive measures like criminalizing negligence may have short-term effects like increased caution in the execution of one’s duties. However, this approach affects patient safety in cases where a practitioner fails to communicate openly for fear of criminal repercussions associated with making mistakes. Therefore, adopting a just culture where individuals are held accountable while at the same time allowing open and honest communication offers a better alternative to criminalizing negligence.
Reference
Oyebode, F. (2013). Clinical errors and medical negligence. Medical Principles and Practice, 22, 323-333.
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