Optician charged with manslaughter. Are we expecting too much...

...of health care professionals?

Browsing through the news sites today I found this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3228075/Eye-doctor-Britain-charged-negligent-manslaughter-death-eight-year-old-boy.html

For those who can't be bothered to read it (or give the Daily Mail any traffic) then basically an Optometrist has been charged with manslaughter after a young child died from fluid on the brain which could/should have been spotted during a routine appointment.

Now, there is probably a lot more to this story than we are being told but just on the face of it, given what we know - do you think this charge is fair?

Personally, we are all human and everyday we make mistakes. When you are at work you make mistakes - it's normal - work is very tiring, often you are stressed/dealing with multiple things at once etc but luckily most of us aren't in jobs where our mistakes could possibly cost other people their lives. Of course health care professionals ought to be able to handle stress/deal with tiredness etc since they are in a job which puts people's health in their hands but still, healthcare professionals are human and as such are bound to make mistakes or miss things. Can we really expect zero mistakes? Isn't it too much to expect? Can we really charge people with manslaughter for such mistakes?

True, but there comes a point where is it not the fault of society in putting too much stress on these people?


I would also quesiton what could it actually does in locking someone up for a long time for committing 'negligence' does. It would kill me on then inside if say as a medical physicist I gave someone terminal cancer due to my incompetence in operating machinery. Sure, sack me as I am not capable of the job but it wasn't intentional and sending me to prison and treating me as a criminal achieves nothing (unless you class 'revenge' as a legit reason for sending people to prison).

Definitely, healthcare is understaffed and the staff have to work far too many hours. It leads to poor health care and sloppy work.

I do not think we can expect health care professionals to make zero mistakes no, however there is a big difference between a mistake and gross negligence. Since I don't know the ins and outs of this particular case I cannot say whether the ruling was correct or fair. However if it was gross negligence, then I think the ruling is fair.

I;d pay more taxes just so nurses and other health professionals are not over worked. One day it is going to be me they are looking after

I can't say I've read all of the details but my instant reaction after reading the basic details was that it was an accident, an accident that was unfortunate but perhaps not deserving of a negligent manslaughter charge - unless there's more evidence to suggest such. Doctors/opticians are people that make mistakes just like anyone else.

I agree, that's my gut feeling on this - it doesn't feel right to lock someone up for something unintentional and I can't see what good punishing them can do.

I have to laugh how some idiots make generalised statements about 'lefties'. I am a 'lefty'. My post disproves your claim.

True, but there comes a point where is it not the fault of society in putting too much stress on these people?


I would also quesiton what could it actually does in locking someone up for a long time for committing 'negligence' does. It would kill me on then inside if say as a medical physicist I gave someone terminal cancer due to my incompetence in operating machinery. Sure, sack me as I am not capable of the job but it wasn't intentional and sending me to prison and treating me as a criminal achieves nothing (unless you class 'revenge' as a legit reason for sending people to prison).