Today we heard more moving stories about egregious safety errors that are completely unbelievable. What I can’t stop thinking about, though, and was correctly pointed out today in the film, is these patient families that are sharing their stories with us are extremely intelligent, educated, and well spoken. What about the patients that just plain aren’t, aren’t as educated, aren’t as experience, aren’t as exposed. Don’t have jobs, safety nets, stable relationships for support. What chance do they have for safety? What chance do they have in understanding and participating in their care? Should measures be in place to care specifically for them? If we just made things safe and consent understandable to all ages would this difference even matter? Should safety measures be targeted towards a population? What disadvantages do they have strictly in terms of safety right when they walk in the door? Does an uneducated family that doesn’t “meddle” have any advantage? This issue spurs a lot of questions that I don’t yet have answers, I think I am with the best possible minds to possibly find the answers, but despite my generally optimistic attitude, I don’t think all these answers yet exist.
