Even though a lot of tactics are available now for doctors to avoid medical errors the fear of them happening and constant worry about patients can push doctors to the edge. Physicians burnout is a widespread problem.
In a very interesting blog Dr Diane Shanon explains that she was worn down by over worrying about medical errors such as incorrect orders, intravenous catheter left in too long and leading to infection, care providers forgetting to wash his or her hands and spreading dangerous infections from one patient to the other or misread EKGs or X-rays. She suffered such a terrible burn-out that she decided to walk away from her career as a physician.