Medical Error Disclosure: Is It Safe To Say You're Sorry?
Number of pages:
15
ABSTRACT:
15 pages in length. The practice of medicine is a business no different from any other industry; when mistakes are made operator, they are both acknowledged and rectified. Most times an apology accompanies the correction, such as with an overcharge at a retail store or an incomplete repair at the mechanics. However, when a health care practitioner makes an error, the corrective measure is not as simple as a refund or redoing the procedure; rather, mistakes are not readily accounted for and even hidden with the hopes no one will find out. The extent to which medical errors can maim or otherwise compromise the patient's quality of life is both grand and far-reaching; that disclosure is not always forthcoming speaks to multitude of personal and legal trouble the responsible party seeks to avoid. Given today's litigious social climate, the propensity for medical errors to remain undocumented is a risk factor that stands to detrimentally impact not only the practitioner but also all those who were even remotely involved, including the hospital or clinic. Weighing this risk while at the same time respecting the patient's ethical right to know the truth presents a dichotomy that may be equally resolved with a simple two-word phrase: I'm sorry. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
FILE NAME:
File: LM1_TLCMedErrDis.rtf
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