Silenced

Buying Silence

Healthcare either coerces or buys silence whenever things go wrong. That should be illegal, but until it is including in any settlement agreement a positive line declaring the victim's right to speak about issues that may or may not have been brought up in the course of the case, issues that may or may not include crime in medicine, patient safety, sex abuse, and such like, is one thing that can help reduce the extent to which victims are silenced.

Society needs Rememberers

The community needs victims of adverse events to avoid letting gag orders be included in papers that are signed. Gag orders are routine and expected. The patient's own attorney will be used to including them without argument and recommend signing them. But that demolishes the responsibility that patients have to each other. When you know there are snakes in the field, you have a responsibility to tell the other people who are walking through the grass. Even if you are not allowed to name specific snakes, the community must hear the victim's experience, including the lessons learned from trying to get justice and/or suing or being sued afterwards. Otherwise the community will not develop the vocabulary and understanding necessary to protect itself.

Witnesses and rememberers are fundamental
to a safe and just society

The statistics on the amount of crime in medicine already are available, but people don't think in statistics. They think in stories. The police are not aware of what they are doing wrong when they refer victims of crimes to state medical boards (hard to imagine graduates of police academies being no smarter than that, but it is a fact). State medical boards derail the rule of law in medicine but somehow think that's okay. Without the stories of the victims, they never will become know better, and future victims will not have the experience of others to draw on to help them deal with their tragedies either. It is necessary for patients with problems to be heard.

I have been told of one patient who refused to sign the gag order and still got the settlement. Speaking to him to see what can be learned from his experience is on my list of things to do (eventually).

Hit your backspace button
to return to where you were.

Home | Table of Contents | It's a Path
Silence versus Patient Safety
Loyalty versus Patient Safety
The White Wall of Silence versus Patient Safety
Blacklisting Patients
Freedom of Speech for Patients
Medical Complaints - How to

* * * * *    < Truth / Justice / Patient Safety >    * * * * *
It's a path

If you want to say something about any of my sites, my phone number is on almost every page. So is my email address. There even are Feedback Forms where you can communicate anonymously. I am listening. I will be sensitive to what you say.

To contact me, click email
or call 513-348-4744 in the USA
Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved
Revised August 18, 2008