The Baby Can Die

"The baby can die”, the doctor told us. It was the 35th week of pregnancy, and the baby was expected to be born between the 38th - 40th week.

My wife had started feeling itchy. She reported it to the doctor who requested a few exams. A few days after, the exams confirmed that she had something called cholestasis of pregnancy. Once we learned the results, she immediately googled it and the scenarios were not good. So we went to the doctor right away.

We asked the doctor: "What is the risk? Which is the worst case scenario?”

The doctor calmly answered "the baby can die". Tears immediately came to our eyes.

He went on answering: “When one asks which is the worst case scenario in Medicine, the answer is rarely a good one. Even though this is an existing risk, I don`t believe it is the case for your baby. The worst case mostly happens when there is no timely diagnosis, which is not your case”.

He completed his answer with information on related studies, technical data, likelihood of risk, why such a condition occurs, and most importantly, the action plan to mitigate the risks and ensure the baby would be born healthy.

I`m a lawyer by training and I`ve been in the corporate world since many years.

Almost every day we face challenges and decisions involving risk (from very low to very high).

I often hear the same kind of questions we put to the doctor: What is the risk? What is the worst case scenario?

Fortunately, most of the cases are not related to the risk of death. But sometimes it can be, especially within the healthcare sector, in which I`ve been working for almost the whole of my career.

Bad business decisions can lead to various consequences: the safety of consumers, financial crash, loss of jobs, reputation damages, monetary fines, environmental damages, criminal liabilities ... you name it. The list can be endless.

In order to spot the risk on time and/or assess the preventive or corrective action plan, companies normally count on different experts and perspectives, such as Business people, Quality, Legal, Marketing, Compliance, Sales etc.

Some departments, such as Legal, Compliance and Quality have, unfortunately, a bad reputation of just saying "No, you can`t do it. It is too risky".

And to be honest, this is a well deserved reputation for the ones that just keep on answering and acting like this.

Fortunately, this is not true for most of the Legal, Compliance and Quality departments I had the chance to interact with.

They all evolved to go beyond the mere description of the existing risk or worst case scenario. They learned to listen more, to understand what the ultimate goal is, and to explore the different existing alternatives to reach it.

Alternatives where the risk can be eliminated or mitigated to a level such that it can be taken.

Not theorical alternatives, that can be too complex or too expensive to implement. But really feasible and ethical alternatives.

Thank God, we had a good doctor. The action plan proposed included almost daily monitoring, some medicines, and anticipating the delivery to the 37th week.

Thank God, my son Luc was born last week, safe and healthy.

Now, as I revive the moment I was told “the baby can die” I am, besides being immensely grateful, also reminded of the importance and the responsibility of the work we, business partners, carry when we assess risk. A few reflections I`d like to share with you:

1. It is important to understand your business, the environment you are in, and the different signals that you should go deeper into, so to understand whether something wrong is going on. In our case, for a few days we thought we were dealing with an allergy, something we could control with the usual anti allergic medicines. We simply could not see the risk involved. The doctor knew the itch could mean something else and went deeper to assess it.
2. Sometimes, the risks are not that visible, so it is up to you to identify the symptoms and assess it.
3. Just to say “No, sorry. This is too risky” has absolutely no value! It is key to go beyond it, to be open to learn, to listen, to understand the goal, explore alternatives and the why’s and the "why nots”.
4. If you’ve properly explored the field and found there is really no alternative, just don’t do it. But I really think this will not constitute the majority of cases.
5. Once you found existing alternatives, make sure there is a plan in place, and the people understand the risks, and the reasons to take them or not.
6. If it is still a high risk, monitor, manage it closely, and change the action plan as needed.

Next time you assess risk, I invite you to remember my son Luc and to think about the impact your assessment and decisions can have to the various "Luc” in this world. Your Luc can be a baby, a young or a senior person, a business, or no matter what.

Always take it seriously and do your best to find the existing feasible, ethical solutions. Or, if that’s the case, explain the reasons you have to say no.

Picture: Luc and his big sister Liz, holding him for . the first time.

*Special thanks to Inacio Abdulkader, brilliant mind and family lifelong friend, for the support with this article.

Rodrigo Exman is passionate about people, development and business. Rodrigo believes in the positive impact of collaboration and a great work. Lawyer by training, people oriented by heart, Rodrigo has more than 15 years of experience in big multinational companies.

*The views expressed in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my current or past employers.