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Doctors Learn To Apologize For Medical Mistakes

By Eddie Farah

When the chief of staff at a Veterans Hospital in Tampa told the family of a man who died he was sorry, he broke the mold.

Doctors rarely say they are sorry, even when they make horrible mistakes. There is a national movement afoot to change that. It's called Sorry Works! Coalition and its founder Doug Wojcieszak calls it a "massive cultural shift."

"For decades, the typical approach of hospitals and their insurance carriers was shut up, and literally break off communications with the family" he tells the Tampa Tribune.

The fear of course is that people will take the admission of guilt all the way to the bank. But when the University of Michigan initiated an apology policy in its health care system, it lowered legal costs in half from $65,000 to $35,000 per case.

Unfortunately, wrongdoers, whether they are making a defective drug, a medical mistake, or are at fault for an accident, too often don't have the courage to take that step.

Wojcieszak says that "Everybody thinks patients and families are out for blood, out to sue. The truth is, they want somebody to level with them, and they want to make sure it doesn't happen again."

He says that an apology must be immediate, sincere, include some settlement reparations and assurances that it won't happen again.

After a 2006 survey showed a quarter of a million Medicare patients were killed from preventable medical errors, we have always believed the medical profession needs to do a better job of policing itself. Policing itself by instilling a checks and balance system to minimize medical errors, and when mistakes are made, issuing an apology, will go a long way to cutting down on legal actions.

Too often we hear what people really want is an apology for an error and an acknowledgment that sometimes people are human.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on August 21, 2008 (boomark / email).