9 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U N E 2 0 1 9
I
t's human
nature to want
to apologize.
When we cut some-
one off in traffic,
when we forget to
follow up on an
email, when we say
something that we
shouldn't have, we
all want to apologize
and make amends.
But in the world of
medicine — and medical malpractice — "I'm sorry" has always been a
bit more complicated. In the medical community, those words have
always represented a difficult paradox: You want to express remorse
to your patients, but you also don't want to say something that will
come back to bite you in the court of law.
If you're a doctor who's made a mistake, what should you do? In
response to this question, nearly 40 states have implemented so-called
apology laws to give practitioners the ability to express condolences
to patients without legal repercussions. When states pass these apolo-
gy laws, they often list the opportunity to reduce lawsuits and encour-
age settlements as top priorities.
My colleagues and I have studied apology laws
(osmag.net/sGZ7Nh), and we've found no evidence that they are
reducing lawsuits and encouraging settlements. In some cases, they
When Sorry Doesn't Cut It
Apologizing won't make your malpractice problems disappear.
Patient Affairs
Benjamin J. McMichael, JD, PhD
• CAREFUL SPEECH Most medical apology laws allow you to say, "I'm sorry," but they
won't protect statements that admit fault.
Jason
Meehan