Whistling in the Dark: The ethical dilemma of reporting medical errors to save lives

Every day more than 1,000 Americans die in hospitals from preventable medical errors.  Death from medical errors is the third leading cause of death in the United States estimated at 440,000 a year and therefore a significant public health problem.  While efforts to reduce these deaths have focused on internal policies at hospitals and patient empowerment to report errors, the recent dramatic revelations of wrong doing leading to errors and the deaths of more than 40 patients, were brought to the attention of regulatory agencies and the public by whistleblowers who worked for the VA hospitals.  This exposure of wrong doing caused massive changes in the VA health care delivery system, but the whistleblowers suffered extreme personal and professional losses due to retaliation for standing up and telling the truth.  Whistleblowing  in any environment is extremely risky as indicated in recent high profile cases, but in health care there are clearly life and death issues at stake.  Based in theories of duty (telling the truth,) virtue (courage,) and ethics, this presentation will address:  the dilemma of reporting or not reporting; definitions of whistleblowing; a brief history of whistleblowers that changed health care and saved lives; retaliation; protections under the law and within institutional policies; how whistleblowers are and are not protected.  Hand outs will include a survey of the literature and resources.  A brief anonymous survey will be distributed and used as the basis of a discussion for participant participation.