On rare occasion, when a medical error occurred a consumer might be informed. Of course, it not only did not happen to everyone, but when it did happen it often had dire consequences. Too often, medical professionals held, and still hold, the view that it is not wise or necessary to inform consumers about medical errors. This arrogance stems from a professional knows best mentality, a mentality that seems to linger in the medical professionals as it fades among most other professions. But the fact is consumers, customers of medical professionals have a right to be informed when something goes wrong.
Consumers usually know when a medical procedure or treatment has been bungled.
They may not know the particulars or the depth of the problem but they know something isn't right. It has not been easy to get to the bottom of what causes medical mistakes and why precious little has been done to stop them from occurring. The time has come to pull the curtain back and get a clear view, as harsh and alarming as this may be. Medicine on Trial not only revealed previously unavailable facts on medical errors, but it also offered a plan for reducing their incidence. For the People's Medical Society, the key issue is the full disclosure of outcome data on every medical procedure by facility and practitioner.