Medical Errors and Medical Narcissism is a 2005 book by John Banja. Banja defines "medical narcissism" as the need of health professionals to preserve their self-esteem leading to the compromise of error disclosure to patients. In the book he explores the psychological, ethical and legal effects of medical errors and the extent to which a need to constantly assert their competence can cause otherwise capable, and even exceptional, professionals to fall into narcissistic traps. He claims that:
...most health professionals (in fact, most professionals of any ilk) work on cultivating a self that exudes authority, control, knowledge, competence and respectability. It's the narcissist in us all—we dread appearing stupid or incompetent.
References
Further reading Rosenthal, Marilynn M. (2005-07-21). "Book Review". New England Journal of Medicine. 353 (3): 324–324. doi:10.1056/NEJM200507213530324. ISSN 0028-4793. Hébert, Philip (2005-07-06). "Medical Error". JAMA. 294 (1): 115–116. doi:10.1001/jama.294.1.115. ISSN 0098-7484. Bute, Jennifer J. (2006-06-01). "Book Review: Medical Errors and Medical Narcissism". Health Communication. doi:10.1207/s15327027hc2001_11. Kirk, Roey (September 2005). "Doing the Right Thing". JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration. 35 (9): 375. ISSN 0002-0443.