The power of an apology: Patients appreciate open communication

Adverse events happen. Telling patients and families that you're sorry will likely do more to prevent a lawsuit than to spur one.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. July 28, 2003.

While doctors and lawyers duked it out over tort reform and liability caps in state legislatures last spring, two states quietly passed bills that could significantly impact malpractice lawsuits by extending physicians' freedom of speech to include two words: "I'm sorry."

The Colorado and Oregon legislatures passed laws allowing physicians to make statements of sympathy and condolence with the assurance that these statements would not be used against them later in court.

"The world is a crazy place," said Oregon Medical Assn. President Colin Cave, MD, a Lake Oswego-based otolaryngologist. "Who would have thought that a doctor would have to be protected by a law in order to express his or her compassion?"

California, Massachusetts and Texas already have similar laws, but many doctors and hospitals are discovering that, even without legal protection, acknowledging and apologizing for errors and adverse outcomes has its own rewards, both ethical and financial. There also is optimism that disclosure will lead to better communication that might help prevent errors in the first place.

When errors do occur, studies indicate that it's not necessarily the medical error itself that causes patients or their families to sue, but the response to it. A study in the Feb. 26 Journal of the American Medical Association reported that after an error occurs, patients want information about why it happened, how consequences will be mitigated and what's being done to prevent reoccurrence. They also want emotional support from doctors -- including an apology.