Greedy Trial Lawyer
Do The Right Thing - It Will Be A Refreshing Change
Category: Right On!
Open Letter to Doctors Who Screw Up
Dear Doctors:
Read this article, take two aspirin and try being honest with your patient and the patient's family - you might start a trend and put me out of business.
Greedy Trial Lawyer
Doctors Urged To Admit Fault In Medical Errors, Apologize
Hospitals increasingly are creating policies that encourage doctors who make medical mistakes to apologize to patients, the Chicago Tribune reports. In the past, physicians have been "too proud, too afraid of malpractice lawsuits and too worried about losing face" to make apologies, according to the Tribune."One of the biggest obstacles to disclosure is the fear of lawsuits," the Tribune reports. Although some contend that admission of errors will make it easier for patients to file suit, others say that an apology and compensation for injuries will reduce that likelihood.
Steven Kraman, who helped develop the disclosure program at the Lexington VA Medical Center in Kentucky, said that admitting errors is a way for hospitals to learn from mistakes and develop ways to ensure they do not happen again, outweighing the potential costs of apologies.
During the first year of its disclosure policy, the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center had one malpractice claim filed among 40 acknowledged errors, according to the Tribune. UIC CEO John DeNardo said, "The best way to approach this is to own up to the fact that an incident happened and ask what can we do to fix it and make the situation better" (Graham, Chicago Tribune, 8/19).
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