I would very much like to see that if you have a link.

Google search doesn't find it for me.

Possibly yes, but on emulators/training data/virtual patients. One of the advantages of today's digital world is that you don't have to jump to the real thing immediately.

Come to think of it, maybe even laws should be tested in a laboratory first. We cannot emulate the human society fully, but some unwanted effects could be detected this way anyway.

Maybe the statement could be refined to "must be given opportunity for failure".

For some professions that might include running some projects at a smaller scale, as a simulation or even as role play exercise

For doctors looking to innovate, there are actually a lot of ways to fail fast and safely if you introduce a new drug.

First, establish that a drug binds to the target in laboratory conditions (relatively quick). After that, test the drug in an animal model. After that, proceed to clinical trials, which are phased (phase I, II, III) to first establish whether a dosage exists that is safe (Phase I), what an effective dosage is (Phase II), and only after than testing if it improves upon the current standard of care (Phase III).

Each phase is more costly (both in time and money) than the previous phase and will eliminate a significant portion of drug candidates.

"The success rate of each drug discovery stage in academia was 31.8% for preclinical, 75.1% for phase I, 50.0% for phase II, 58.6% for phase III."

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24406927/

Even those. When the cost of failure is too high, we need to invest in practices that allow them fail safely. And get as much from failures as possible.

It means giving doctors and nurses simulators, someone to look over their shoulder when learning new techniques, giving them high-quality followup data, finding top performers and make them explain what they do and so on. Which is currently very hard to do, because teaching others means you lose your advantage.

It also means learning from failures of others. That means writing about the fuckups and telling them. Which is currently almost impossible to do, because admitting failure can often result in an end to your career.

And all of this is exacerbated with consolidated, privatized healthcare where the shots are called not by outcome-oriented caregivers, but by profit-oriented MBAs.

My grandfather, a photographer, told me this story: 20 years ago in a doctor's graduation ceremony held somewhere in Spain the old doctor who gave the speech told the graduates: "Now your job is to kill people. Along the years you'll learn, and if you are good, you'll kill less people and save some."