To Err is Human; and to Course Correct is also Human

Not to go wrong once in a while means not to go at all

- Smt. Sujatha Rao

W e have heard the clichéd expression about errors being ingrained in the human condition. As we celebrate the National Science day on February 28, let's examine the 'errors' that occur in certain fields that are considered fatal, like in the field of medicine.

Have there been instances of costly errors that have caused irreparable harm therein?

Apparently there have been, as the following cautionary tale about the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and the enlarged thymus gland sufficiently illustrates: During the first half of the 19th Century, physicians who discovered that the infants who died of SIDS had enlarged thymus glands compared to the normal children, felt it was logical to conclude the enlarged thymus glands were somehow responsible for such deaths. Extending the logic further, they felt removal of the thymus might be of preemptive value in saving these children.

Thousands of children eventually received radiation to prevent such presumed 'thymic death'. But then this treatment turned out to be deadly, as the radiation treatment used on the thymus gland located very close to the sensitive thyroid gland caused increased incidences of thyroid cancer.

It was learned later that the cadavers used by the anatomists to determine the normal thymus size were from the very poor, who had died due to the chronic illnesses prevalent at that time.

The persistent stress, due to the extreme conditions they lived in had shrunk their thymus glands. In fact, the large thymus glands were the 'normal' and healthy ones.