To Err is Human: A Patient Safety Documentary

Medical Mistakes Can Lead to Lifelong Consequences

The patient safety documentary begins with the story of a family whose lives were permanently and severely changed by two separate medical errors. The story of the Sheridan family in Idaho is that of tragedy; one medical mistake lead to a child’s lifelong disability, and another mistake lead to the death of a parent. Now, the Sheridan family uses their story to educate and empower Americans in the hope of preventing future tragedies.

How Do We Prevent These Tragedies?

Described by one doctor as a “public health emergency”, the statistics regarding medical errors are staggering, with an estimated 440,000 deaths each year from these incidents. With medical mistakes listed as the third leading cause of death in America, we wonder what is being done to counteract these travesties. The documentary explores the initiatives to reduce (and hopefully eliminate) that figure. This work includes creating safeguards to prevent mistakes from going unnoticed, such as high-tech video cameras recording surgical procedures and alerting doctors to issues in real time. Additionally, healthcare professionals are slowly changing the culture in hospitals that places shame on errors. That shame, while seemingly reasonable, has lead to the unhealthy lack of openness and honesty regarding the occurrence of mistakes.