fail package:can-i-haz

When a value is bound in do-notation, the pattern on the left hand side of <- might not match. In this case, this class provides a function to recover. A Monad without a MonadFail instance may only be used in conjunction with pattern that always match, such as newtypes, tuples, data types with only a single data constructor, and irrefutable patterns (~pat). Instances of MonadFail should satisfy the following law: fail s should be a left zero for >>=,
fail s >>= f  =  fail s
If your Monad is also MonadPlus, a popular definition is
fail _ = mzero