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The Reith Lectures: Why do Doctors Fail?

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Atul Gawande

25/11/2014

Why do Doctors Fail?

BBC World Service - The Reith Lectures, Why do Doctors Fail?

Atul Gawande explores the nature of imperfection in medicine

Atul Gawande explores the nature of imperfection in medicine. How much of failure in medicine is due to ignorance or ineptitude - and what does that mean for medical progress?

Atul Gawande is a practising surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Professor at both the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. He’s well known for his writing on medicine, and his research on medical error and performance. 

Among his other roles, he is director of Ariadne Labs, a joint centre for health systems innovation, and chairman of Lifebox, a global charity reducing unsafe surgery globally. The first lecture, Why do Doctors Fail? will explore the nature of imperfection in medicine. In particular, Gawande will examine how much of failure in medicine remains due to ignorance, and how much is due to ineptitude - and what that means for where medical progress will come from in the future.

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