Tragic Deaths

I just wanted to comment on the situation at Seattle Children's Hospital over the past week or so. My Seattle friends know what this is about: a couple of children have died there in a sad way recently, and accounts of the deaths have hit the news media. (Children's has not tried to hide what happened, despite any innuendos by some to the contrary.) One death was apparently due to an accidental overdose (a miscalculation). Another child died when a nurse administered medication during a transport, without the orders of a licensed prescriber. The details of that second death are not yet public and the exact cause of the death was undetermined as of a couple of days ago; they are still investigating. However, administering medicine in that case was still against protocol, which the hospital has admitted freely.

As sad as the death of any child always is, these two particular deaths have rocked the hospital. I know some medical people feel that they could also have made a similar mistake, in calculation or even in judgment. I really feel for the doctors and nurses whose work and competence are suddenly under a lot of suspicion and scrutiny. They are exceptional people, and exceptional professionals. However, there is no one who never makes a mistake, and for it to be a fatal one is their worst nightmare.

What is also sad, I think, is that we will suddenly see murkily implied improprieties (see story reported here). There are often things that happen for which there is no human error involved, and for which there is no good answer to that nagging question "Why?"