If you suffer harm due to a mistake by a medical practitioner, then you might feel it occurred because they were not giving you their full attention at the time. There’s a good possibility you are right.
Doctors are just as prone to distraction as the next person. You only have to look at your colleagues in whatever job you do to see that not everyone is good at staying focused on their work. People can get distracted by all sorts of things, and just because someone works as a doctor does not change that.
The problem is that if a doctor gets distracted while attending to you, the consequences could potentially be life-threatening. That’s not true for most professions.
What distractions do doctors face?
The distractions doctors have to deal with are similar to the things you’d get in any workplace. Phones ringing, people wanting to start a conversation or ask a question, a set of events at home weighing heavily on their minds and much more.
The increased use of technology is also a factor. Doctors may need to carry pagers and phones so their employers or colleagues can contact them quickly in an emergency. They may need to use a computer to research information or enter data. They may have trouble concentrating due to the noise coming from the construction site next door. Or they might forget what they are supposed to be doing when a colleague they have amorous feelings toward walks past and smiles at them.
Doctors have a duty of care toward their patients and they cannot afford to let distractions get in the way of that. If they do, then they should not be surprised if a patient they harm accuses them of malpractice.