Through exploring the relation between shame, guilt, and medical error in Ann Patchett's novel State of Wonder alongside author-physician Danielle Ofri's autobiographical reflections in her essay "Ashamed to Admit It: Owning up to Medical Error," this essay considers how fiction and medical nonfiction might contribute to an understanding ...
Through exploring the relation between shame, guilt, and medical error in Ann Patchett's novel State of Wonder alongside author-physician Danielle Ofri's autobiographical reflections in her essay "Ashamed to Admit It: Owning up to Medical Error," this essay considers how fiction and medical nonfiction might contribute to an understanding of the experience of medical error and being a "second victim" from the point of view of the medical learner. We argue that State of Wonder expands the scope of Ofri's work on shame about medical error; the novel presents a more durational examination of an error's consequences in non-medical contexts.