title: Forgive me: medical error and the poetics of forgiveness.
abstract: Alexander Pope, in his Essay on Criticism, proposes that "To err is human; to forgive divine." This essay considers the latter half of that proposition and includes quotes from doctors who participated in a study of learning and growing through adversity. Doctors, like poets, find it necessary to put their moral and psychological dilemma into words. Language shapes the experience and offers a means of partial resolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine/Division of General Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0761, USA. dmb2y@virginia.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plews-Ogan
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D032781:Codes of Ethics; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D061347:Forgiveness / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007802:Language; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000941:ethics*; D009014:Morals; D010820:Physicians / Q000941:ethics* / Q000523:psychology; D011037:Poetry as Topic