Disclosure of Medical Errors Good for Doctors and Patients
The common practice among malpractice lawyers and insurers in counseling doctors and hospitals is to “deny and defend.” There is still an environment of fear in expressing regret based on the belief that to do so will cause litigation and damage careers. Remaining mum is proving otherwise. Academic medical centers such as Johns Hopkins and Stanford are trying a different approach. They are promptly disclosing medical errors and apologizing. What often triggers lawsuits is concealment of mistakes and the victim’s concern it could happen again. Hospitals practicing apologies have reported a decrease in litigation filed against them. At the University of Michigan Health System, one of the first to experiment with full disclosure, existing claims and lawsuits dropped to 83 in August 2007 from 262 in August 2001, said Richard C. Boothman, the medical center’s chief risk officer. “Improving patient safety and patient communication is more likely to cure the malpractice crisis than defensiveness and denial,” Mr. Boothman said. The number of malpractice lawsuits filed against the University of Illinois has dropped by half since it started just over two years ago disclosing and apologizing , said Dr. Timothy B. McDonald, the hospital’s chief safety and risk officer. In the 37 cases where the hospital acknowledged a preventable error and apologized, only one patient has filed suit. It is believed by some that new disclosure policies may reduce legal claims as well as offering reasonable compensation to every injured patient. Recent studies have found that one of every 100 hospital patients suffers negligent treatment, and that as many as 98,000 die each year as a result. Studies also show that as few as 30 percent of medical errors are disclosed to patients. Only a small fraction of injured patients, about 2 percent, press for litigation. “There is no reason the patient should have to pay the economic consequences for our mistakes,” said Dr. Lucian L. Leape, an authority on patient safety at Harvard, which recently adopted disclosure principles at its hospitals. “But we’re pushing uphill on this. Most doctors don’t really believe that if they’re open and honest with patients they won’t be sued.”
