Whatever the limits of the M & M, its fierce ethic of personal responsibility for errors is a formidable virtue. No matter what measures are taken, doctors will sometimes falter, and it isn’t reasonable to ask that we achieve perfection. What is reasonable is to ask that we never cease to aim for it.
This reminds me of a quote from When Breath Becomes Air: "You can't ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving." This seems to be a common theme among surgeons, if not among all physicians in general.
