When Should A Doctor Apologize?
The movement for physicians to say “I’m sorry” when things go wrong in patient care has been under debate for the past few years. In the past, physicians were advised to never admit to a problem or to apologize for clinical errors with the thought that it would lead to more lawsuits. Saying “I’m sorry” might be taken by a lawyer as an admission of guilt and malpractice. Attorneys advised, “Say nothing” but that left patients with unanswered questions and often the feeling that the doctor just didn’t care.
Numerous studies have shown that patients want physicians to disclose harmful errors and they want information about what happened, why it happened and if something has been done to keep it from happening again. There has been a gap between what patients want and what actually occurs. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
