In many areas of working life, responsibility is clearly tied to consequences. Anyone who makes a serious mistake and thereby endangers the lives of others must expect accountability, liability, and sanctions. In the medical field, however, there is often the impression that this connection is enforced less consistently.

That impression is deeply troubling. Medical decisions and diagnostic assessments do not concern some abstract process; they concern actual human lives. When serious mistakes occur in preventive care, diagnosis, or treatment, they must not be dismissed as unavoidable operational mishaps.

Read more: Why Medical Errors Must Not Remain Without Consequences

The person at the center of this account has already passed away. She was a woman in her mid-sixties with a rare and difficult-to-treat cancer. From the very beginning, her medical chances were poor. For that very reason, this is not about claiming that every negative outcome could have been prevented. It is about the impression that several failures piled up in this case: delayed action, unclear communication, problematic wound care, and a lack of openness toward the family.

The course of events began during the COVID period. After several members of the family, as well as the woman herself, had contracted COVID, her circulation deteriorated significantly. The family called emergency services. At the hospital she was stabilized, and an examination showed that something more serious lay behind her condition. From there, further treatment continued through other clinics and responsible physicians.

Read more: When Time, Aftercare, and Openness Fail