ABSTRACT
A group composed of parents, nurses, and physicians involved in pediatric cancerology has reflected on medical errors within the Espace Éthique de l'Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris. Based on narratives and qualitative analysis of histories and testimonies, this discussion aimed at exploring the causes, circumstances, and impacts of medical errors on the relations between these individuals. The study demonstrated that some circumstances actually promote medical errors, such as hard working conditions, mistrust, unreliable control procedures, not listening to parents, and caring for children in extreme situations of pain and suffering. Errors almost always result from the accumulation of several shortcomings. The tensions raised by a medical error can be overcome, provided that parents and caregivers trust each other from the onset of disease and that the medical errors are disclosed in a sincere way, whatever the medical consequences. The feelings raised by the painful experience of a medical error do not solely depend on the severity of the consequences, since seemingly benign errors may lead to long-term trauma, whereas severe errors, even those leading to death, do not necessarily breach trust. The keyword here is permanent vigilance. The capacity of caregivers to question their practice, from both a technical and ethical point of view, will determine their ability to learn from an error for the future. The depth and quality of this questioning, in the best of times encouraged by the institution, may also help children affected by a medical error and their family to move forward in their personal history, beyond such painful experiences.
