Yes, the transplantation mix-up in North Carolina was a horrid mistake. Yes, a young girl may suffer severe repercussions such as paralysis and brain damage, and possibly even death. Yes, someone lost a chance at a set of organs. But the bottom line was, it was a human mistake.
The hospital is already taking actions to make things right. They have added an extra level of checks to help prevent this from happening again. There will be no charges for the medical services being rendered. The hospital is supplying a full report to UNOS on the error, and they have gone very public with this. Contrite seems too light a word to use to describe their stance.
Consider this scenario: an ambulance is rushing a critical patient to the hospital. Every second counts. The hospital grounds border on a residential area. A block away from the emergency room, a child on a bicycle breaks away from his parents and despite their cries suddenly darts out into the road from between two parked cars. The child is struck and critically injured. Who do we sue? The hospital, which had the insensitivity to allow itself to be built in an area where people would eventually build their homes? The ambulance driver, who was obviously speeding? The parents, who failed to keep hold of their child at a critical moment. The people who designed the residential development, for building next to a hospital? Sometimes the best you can do is learn from errors, and take measures such as installing fencing and changing zoning laws so that such a thing is less likely to happen again. I'm not entirely sure that taking money from an insurance company qualifies as an effective punitive measure or a way to learn from the error. All it does reduce the number of ambulance drivers because the insurance rates go up, and forces hospitals to close and relocate to more remote regions, where they are less accessible in emergency situations.
I can't speak for the child in North Carolina who has now undergone her second heart/lung transplant. Her parents will do as they feel is best. But I can speak for myself. And I will not have someone sued for trying to save my life. I know that if a mistake is made and something goes wrong, the hospital will provide whatever treatments and care I require to make it as right as possible. I cannot ask for more than that, and morally feel that I should not. And if I die, well that's the risk I'm willing to take for a second chance at life. I accept human fallibility as part of the risks I face. And I won't have someone sued on my behalf because they are human.