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A comment on The macabre fate of ‘beating heart corpses’. Parent comment

Re:The macabre fate of ‘beating heart corpses’ by cortesoft on Friday November 11, 2016 @08:38PM (#12936051)
I think the definition of mistake should be "was there a different course of action that could have been taken that would have kept the person alive?"

Not all mistakes are avoidable - sometimes there is no way to know if something is a mistake until after you do it, but it is still a mistake.

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Re:The macabre fate of ‘beating heart corpses’ by DasIch on Saturday November 12, 2016 @03:47AM (#12937145)
If there are two courses of action both with potentially deadly side effects, your definition would consider it a mistake taking one and having the patient die due to that side effect.

I think mistake should imply doing something even though a better option was available and known (or should've been known) to the person making the decision.

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