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The New Hampshire Legislature has approved a bill that will allow a doctor to apologize to a patient and NOT have that apology held against him or her in court.  This is a good thing.  Currently if a doctor admits a mistake and says "I'm Sorry" that statement can be used in court because it is an admission by a party to the lawsuit (the doctor).  An evidence rule allows statements like this into court.

That rule has kept doctors from apologizing and that is bad.  Doctors should be allowed to apologize without it being held against them.  Many people just want to hear that apology and it helps with the doctor patient relationship.  By passing this law you will likely reduce, by a little, the number of small malpractice lawsuits that are filed by people without lawyers who just want an apology.  It won't have an effect on most malpractice lawsuits, because in most cases the damages are so large that the injured person has to file in order to reconstruct their life in some way.

See article at the Nashua Telegraph
The bill is HB 584.