When medicine goes awry: Cases in medically caused suffering and death. By JuanneNancarrow Clarke, 1st ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2022. pp. 1–303. ISBN: 978‐1‐4875‐2581‐1

Abstract

Juanne Nancarrow Clarke's 'When Medicine Goes Awry: Case Studies in Medically Caused Suffering and Death' offers an important addition to our limited understanding of medical errors. Clarke provides a compelling and comprehensive sociological analysis of medical errors and offers a critical insight into its potential causes and solutions.Central to Clarke's argument is the notion that medical error is not the biproduct of a singular case of medical malpractice but is an intrinsic characteristic of the modern healthcare system. Clarke places particular blame on the 'expanding proves of medicalisation' (p. 4) for the irrevocability of medical error. The role of allopathic medicine has become central in contemporary society, with many aspects of everyday life being increasingly defined as medical problems. A consequence of this is an inability to recognise the shortcomings of allopathic healthcare including the limitations of medical science, practice, system organisation and pharamaceuticalisation.Drawing on 7 well-publicised Canadian cases of medical error, Clarke describes the vivid interplay between several sociological principles in the rise of medically caused suffering and death including medicalisation, pharamaceuticalisation and the social determinants of health. Clarke helpfully separates the case studies into 2 parts. The first part describes four cases where patients were the victim of medical error: the case of Brian Sinclair describes racially motivated medical negligence which resulted in the death of an Indigenous man waiting for assistance in an emergency room; the case of Ashley Smith describes the preventable death of a young person in judicial care; and the case of Vanessa Young and Marit McKenzie describes how pharmaceutical error and a reliance on medicine to solve social problems resulted in the death of two young people.In addition to describing individual victims of medical error, Carrow also draws on cases where practitioners were responsible for medical error. This includes Dr. Charles Smith, a doctor renowned for his problematic behaviours and medical harms yet received insufficient punishment due to the limited specialists within his area of expertise; Elizabeth Wettlaufer, a nurse who was accused of murdering several elderly patients; and Dr. Norman Barwin, a fertility doctor who