In a previous post, I discussed the issue of medical errors. These are mistakes that are typically committed by physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals which cause injury or death to patients. The include errors in diagnosis, errors in administration of drugs and other medications, errors in surgery, errors in the interpretation of laboratory and imaging tests, and errors in the use of medical equipments. A 1999 report estimated that between 44,000-98,000 people die in the U.S. each year due to medical errors, which is equivalent to a 747 crashing every other day.

When a healthcare provider commits a mistake, the standard practice in the past was to hide the error, deny that it ever happened, and definitely not to inform the patient or his/her family members. In the last few years, however, several organizations have encouraged providers, especially doctors, to change their approach, apologize to the patient, and explain what went wrong. Although it sounds very good, this approach has one main and obvious risk: the patient and family might use what the provider says if they decide to file a lawsuit. However, according to the Sorry Works! Coalition, providers and organizations that apologize after committing an error, are less likely to get sued by patients than those than don’t.

The Sorry Works! Coalition is an advocacy organization for disclosure, apology (when appropriate), and upfront compensation (when necessary) after errors and mistakes have occurred. It believes and advocates “that the litigation crisis is largely a customer service crisis -- not a legal problem -- that can be solved anytime.” Therefore, it recommends that providers and organization should use a customer service framework in a programmatic approach that encourages communication and problem solving with patients after potential mistakes. Even if the patient still decides to sue, it argues that it is to the providers’ benefit to have apologies, expressions of grief, and offers of upfront compensation brought into the court because “a sympathetic defendant who has done the right thing is a lousy target in the court room.”

It is important to note that there are a number of states that have passed (or are considering passing) immunity for apology laws. These “statutes allow health care providers to apologize and offer expressions of grief without their words being used against them in court.” This initiative was first started in 2006 when then Senators Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton introduced MEDiC (National Medical Error Disclosure and Compensation) in order to provide grant money to health care providers to implement programs for disclosure and compensation.