Should a physician ever apologize
Should a physician ever apologize?
Doctors fear that an apology will be used as an admission of an error in a malpractice suit. Studies by University of Michigan and VA Hospital in Lexington Kentucky actually show that show an opposite trend. Apologies with an explanation of the error have actually decreased lawsuits and reduced monetary awards.
To begin with, AMA requires that doctors have an ethical duty to disclose a harmful error to a patient. To make that disclosure without any expression of apology would seem callous on the part of the doctor.
According to L. L. Leap of Harvard School of Public Health, a patient who is a victim of a medical error would want a physician to: acknowledge the error and explain it; take responsibility and apologize; and find the underlying cause and prevent its recurrence
The same study also shows that the reasons for a patient to want to sue are: perception that the physician was not honest about the incident; perception that no one explained what happened; and advice from someone—often another health professional—to sue. Some states have also enacted “Apology Laws” making apologies inadmissible in civil actions for medical errors, thus making it easier for doctors to apologize.
Doctors fear that an apology will be used as an admission of an error in a malpractice suit. Studies by University of Michigan and VA Hospital in Lexington Kentucky actually show that show an opposite trend. Apologies with an explanation of the error have actually decreased lawsuits and reduced monetary awards.
To begin with, AMA requires that doctors have an ethical duty to disclose a harmful error to a patient. To make that disclosure without any expression of apology would seem callous on the part of the doctor.
According to L. L. Leap of Harvard School of Public Health, a patient who is a victim of a medical error would want a physician to: acknowledge the error and explain it; take responsibility and apologize; and find the underlying cause and prevent its recurrence
The same study also shows that the reasons for a patient to want to sue are: perception that the physician was not honest about the incident; perception that no one explained what happened; and advice from someone—often another health professional—to sue. Some states have also enacted “Apology Laws” making apologies inadmissible in civil actions for medical errors, thus making it easier for doctors to apologize.