Educational Resources

Gene underwent hip replacement surgery to address his chronic hip pain. At first, he felt better, but soon, the pain returned. Then his doctor told him his replacement hip appeared to be defective. Some of the metal was corroding away and infecting the nearby tissue.

For “Amber” (not a real person), the birth of her son Jacob should have been the happiest day of her life. But her joy turned into every parent’s worst nightmare in an instant when doctors informed her that Jacob had a heart defect, a hole that allowed the blood on the two sides of his heart to mix.

“Alicia” (not a real person) enjoyed stories about robots or computers that use artificial intelligence to strike back against their human creators. As much as she liked to watch those films and television programs, though, she never imagined she would become the victim of a robot, herself.

“Charlie” (not a real person) does not remember what happened very well. He was driving down the freeway after concluding his night shift at work, and has a vague recollection of the bright lights and looming presence of the tractor trailer as it came up the on-ramp towards him.

“Don” (not a real person) loved his job, despite the dangers. He worked in a distribution warehouse for a food company, and all of the usual dangers — heavy machinery, perilous towers of products, the strain of moving thousands of pounds of food everyday — were exacerbated by Don’s assignment in the frozen warehouse.

“Ashley” (not a real person) knew that fighting her breast cancer would be difficult, but she had no idea how difficult it was going to be. The cold that washed over her during chemo, the nausea, the fatigue, the psychological shock of seeing all of her hair fall away—that was what made it real, the first time she cried after getting the diagnosis—it was all adding up to the struggle of her life.

When they look back on it now, the “Hernandez” family (not real persons) see the signs as clear as day. Maria, the matriarch of the household, had been reluctant to go into a nursing home, but the strain of taking care of her combined with her declining mental state had become too much of a burden on a family with two full-time workers and two middle-school-aged children.

“Tom” (not a real person) could not believe the magnitude of the error. He had gone in for surgery and awoke to find scars and pain in a new location, one on the side of his body opposite to the planned surgical site. The medical team had operated on the wrong place! Despite having been subjected to the wrong procedure, Tom still needed the correct amount of recovery time, which he spent mired in depression.

What was supposed to be a well-deserved and exciting family trip became one long, extended nightmare. “Tom” (not a real person) had decided to take his wife and two small boys to the theme park. They were on top of the world – until Tom slipped and fell.