This hospital episode illustrates an all too common problem in health care. Way too much depends on some nurse, who these days is also likely to be from africa, remembering to do something or having the presence of mind to notice something. or a doctor. They are human and make mistakes. If we ran nuke plants like that or the commercial air system, we would have disasters on a weekly basis.
Law firms do not depend on a lawyer remembering when a court filing is due. They have sophisticated systems to remind them.
Whenever I come into contact with the health care system however, i am struck by how much it depends on people doing their jobs properly. All human experience tells us that is a recipe for disaster.
Several hundred thousand already die every year in the US from hospital staff errors.
And more federal government interference through Obamacare can only make that worse.
Should Ebola manage to spread. The potential for disaster is very real.