One of the leading causes of deaths and medical problems are iatrogenic (caused by physician errors) in origin. How can you safeguard yourself from an unfortunate mistake? Make sure you have a happy doctor. Well actually the study was done with medical residents. The study discovered that medical students who are depressed are six times as likely to make prescribing errors than those who were not depressed. Apparently if the cognitive functions of your physician are diminished due to depression, the potential for errors, may rise. Hopefully the doctor will simply take a sick day if not feeling well, rather than come in to work in such a state. Doctors are people too.
Each year in the United States, as many as 98,000 patients die due to medication errors, and the stress of resident training, including lack of sleep and leisure time, are among the most commonly cited reasons for such errors, according to background information in the study.