When a Surgical Colleague Makes an Error

Abstract

Professionalism requires that doctors acknowledge their errors and figure out how to avoid making similar ones in the future. Over the last few decades, doctors have gotten better at acknowledging mistakes and apologizing to patients when a mistake happens. Such disclosure is especially complicated when one becomes aware of an error made by a colleague. We present a case in which consultant surgeons became aware that a colleague seemed to have made a serious error. Experts in surgery and bioethics comment on appropriate responses to this situation.