Iatrogenics is when a treatment produced is actually a net harm. The Hippocratic oath is an explicit attempt to work against the urge to perform a perilous intervention. The key point is that if we are to intervene, we need a solid idea of not only the benefits but also the harms which may result; the second and subsequent order consequences.
As well as a need to recognise the existence of this cascade of consequences one must also avoid distance from them. A time lag between the action and the effect can delude a person into believing the inimical intervention was benign.
There is a bias for action in many organisations and institutions; a politician cannot be seen to do nothing. This bias to act, if only for its appearance, could at least be reduced if we incentivise better behaviour. Currently many people are rewarded if something works, but can suffer little to no repercussions if it it goes wrong. There needs to be some skin in the game.
Naive interventionism is in full effect in many of our most important institutions; government, healthcare, tech giants. “Interventionistas”, a term coined by Nassim Taleb, are well equipped to solve first order consequences of a decision but are all too often creating these second and subsequent order problems and for as long as they can act this way and be unaccountable when the dust settles the issue will persist.