One problem is how medical liability is structured so that mainly individuals are liable. These individuals are often not particularly capable of changing much at scale even if they identify root causes of adverse events.

Meanwhile, professional bodies actually responsible for the standard of care and capable of changing it are not liable.

I believe most medical errors happen because of systemic problems. In these cases, the standard of care may be negligent, such as in your wife’s case.

I think the medical liability system is a broken negative feedback loop. What we need is a healthcare system capable of learning from mistakes efficiently and at scale. But this does not happen with the current liability system.

Another problem is how the focus is on victims and outcomes in the wake of errors rather than on prevention. Certifying that doctors are qualified when they have not been trained in a given procedure or even adequately educated about the anatomy involved, for example, is like just driving drunk at 200 miles an hour down a highway. How many people need to get hurt before we know it’s a bad idea? I’d argue 0. We don’t wait until after the drunk driver kills someone to hold them responsible for reckless behavior.

There should be a class action suits against ACOG and/or ABOG for areas in which they perpetuate systemic negligence.