Despite our best efforts, we are all fallible and make mistakes. Some of these mistakes are trivial, while others are serious, and even fatal. How can we best cope with our fallibility? First, we must recognize and accept our fallibility as inevitable. Second, we must provide safeguards for our fallibility, such as checklists and oversight by colleagues. Third, we must treat our mistakes with acknowledgment and apology, not denial and cover-ups. And finally, we must analyze our mistakes, in order to avoid repeating them. Fallibility is an inherent part of the human condition, and we must not be ashamed of our humanity.

Competing interests:
None declared