After Harm
Medical Error and the Ethics of Forgiveness
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Johns Hopkins University Press
Published:16th Oct '07
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Dr. Berlinger's thoughtful and graceful work offers reflection on aspects of heath care, ethics and faith in ways both necessary and new. Her work provides a critique of bioethics and a challenge for the sort of conversations we need to move forward. -- Laurie Zoloth, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
After Harm adds important human dimensions to an issue that has profound consequences for patients and health care providers.States the author, "Each year up to 98,000 patients die as a result of [medical] mistakes, more than are killed by motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS." Her book looks at what should happen after the damage--the injury or death of a patient--has occurred. Berlinger brings to bear on the issues the perspectives of Christian (and some Jewish) social ethics. Her focus is on the physical, financial, psychological, and spiritual needs of patients and families affected by medical error, and she concludes with a theory of forgiveness after harm. This book will be read by professionals and some students in bioethics, health policy, and religion.
In an environment in which the aftermath of medical harm is characterized by adversarial relationships and self-protective maneuvering, Berlinger's proposals offer an alternative that ultimately better serves patients, families, clinicians, and health-care institutions. After Harm has much to offer students, educators, administrators, and policymakers. -- Gregg VandeKieft Literature and Medicine 2006 Forgiveness on the part of an injured patient, or the family if the patient has died, comes as a result of both words and actions on the part of doctors and hospitals, says Nancy Berlinger in her thoughtful and well-researched book. -- Gregory M. Lamb Christian Science Monitor This is an important book that deserves to be read widely. Berlinger has done a signal service by writing it. -- Stephen E. Lammers Christian Century 2006 Certainly recommended reading. -- Mark Welch, Ph.D. Metapsychology 2005 Provides a valuable counterbalance to innumerable calls for systemic reforms to reduce medical error. -- Farr A. Curlin British Medical Journal 2005 Thoughtful and well-researched. -- Gregory M. Lamb Chicago Sun-Times 2005 An accessible, thoughtful treatment of this sensitive topic, which carefully addresses the concerns of all parties affected by medical harm... This book should be read by anyone working within a healthcare institution. -- Christine Vitrano Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 2007 A refreshing effort to connect error and forgiveness in a way that encourages the sort of debate the issue deserves. -- Curtis W. Hart Journal of Religion and Health 2006 Presents an opportune and refreshing perspective on medical error. -- Summer Johnson Hastings Center Report 2007 The text in my view makes an important contribution to the understanding of the relationship between physician and patient in the face of medical error... The author states she hopes non-physician health care professionals will find her work of use, to that end she has succeeded. -- Anne-Marie Brown Provincial Health Ethics Network 2009 I loved this book... It is a tight, tasty, spiritual and intellectual morsel. -- Robert E. Cranston, MD, MA, FAAN Ethics and Medicine 2010
ISBN: 9780801887697
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 12mm
Weight: 272g
176 pages