RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Blame and its consequences for healthcare professionals: response to Tigard JF Journal of Medical Ethics JO J Med Ethics FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics SP 339 OP 341 DO 10.1136/medethics-2019-105525 VO 46 IS 5 A1 Elizabeth A Duthie A1 Ian C Fischer A1 Richard M Frankel YR 2020 UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/46/5/339.abstract AB Tigard (2019) suggests that the medical community would benefit from continuing to promote notions of individual responsibility and blame in healthcare settings. In particular, he contends that blame will promote systematic improvement, both on the individual and institutional levels, by increasing the likelihood that the blameworthy party will ‘own up’ to his or her mistake and apologise. While we agree that communicating regret and offering a genuine apology are critical steps to take when addressing patient harm, the idea that medical professionals should continue to ‘take the blame’ for medical errors flies in the face of existing science and threatens to do more harm than good. We contrast Dr Tigard’s approach with the current literature on blame to promote an alternative strategy that may help to create lasting change in the face of unfortunate error.