Greedy Trial Lawyer
If We Offered To Pay $1 Million For Every Medical Apology....We Might Get A Couple
Category: Ho Hum
Has it occurred to anyone that doctors simply do not like to admit mistakes? Is it possible that most doctors have such enormous egos that there is no room for admitting an error? I raise these questions because of this article. And, because I happen to think getting an apology from a doctor is only likely to happen in the middle of a lawsuit as part of a settlement effort.
Carrie Lavargna: Dear Doctor: Learn to say, 'I'm sorry'
Apology laws, as they are called, allow doctors to express sympathy and compassion after a patient is injured without fear that their words will be used against them in a civil suit. Florida was one of the first states to pass an apology law. State law also requires hospitals to inform patients of incidents that caused serious harm. The disclosure is not to be used against the hospital in court.Even though these laws are in place, Florida doctors and hospitals have not taken the lead in developing or implementing apology programs.
The public expects physicians to be honest and forthcoming, and the American Medical Association Code of Ethics requires disclosure when a significant medical complication results from a physician's mistake of judgment. Even so, only in about 30 percent of cases are medical mistakes disclosed to the patient, according to a 2002 report from the New England Journal of Medicine.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.greedytriallawyer.com/admin/mt-tb.cgi/488