"I'm sorry": Why is that so hard for doctors to say?

Newspaper/Magazine Article

"I'm sorry": Why is that so hard for doctors to say?

February 10, 2010

O'Reilly KB.

View more articles from the same authors.

This feature article emphasizes efforts in health care to formalize disclosure following medical errors.

Free full text

Related Resources From the Same Author(s)

Top 10 ways to improve patient safety now.

April 24, 2013

Fear of punitive response to hospital errors lingers.

March 7, 2012

Revealing their medical errors: why three doctors went public.

August 24, 2011

Can protecting patients be made recession-proof?

July 29, 2009

Wrong-patient, wrong-site procedures persist despite safety protocol.

November 10, 2010

Sponges, surgical instruments miscounted in 13% of surgeries.

October 1, 2008

Hospitals shine light on mistakes by publicly saying: "we're sorry."

August 13, 2008

National safety effort targets perinatal injuries.

June 25, 2008

Hospitals look to improve informed consent process.

November 28, 2007

Patient safety: what can medicine learn from aviation?

June 23, 2010

No pay for "never event" errors becoming standard.

January 9, 2008

AMA meeting: delegates see boosting quality of care as duty.

July 15, 2009

Stanford cuts liability premiums with cash offers after errors.

November 9, 2011

CMS seeks to add 9 hospital-acquired conditions to no-pay list.

May 21, 2008

Achieving Safe and Reliable Healthcare: Strategies and Solutions.

March 6, 2005

The Role of Clinical Learning Environments in Preparing New Clinicians to Engage in Patient Safety.

October 18, 2017

Making electronic health records both SAFER and SMARTER.

July 27, 2022

Journal Article

Study

Clinician collaboration to improve clinical decision support: the Clickbusters initiative.

November 16, 2022

Chronic hospital nurse understaffing meets COVID-19: an observational study.

September 9, 2020

Management of the difficult airway: a closed claims analysis.

July 13, 2005

Automated dispensing cabinet overrides-an evaluation of necessity in a pediatric emergency department.

May 25, 2022

Injury and liability associated with monitored anesthesia care: a closed claims analysis.

February 15, 2006

ACGME Summary Report: The Pursuing Excellence Pathway Leaders Patient Safety Collaborative.

November 18, 2020

The effect of medication reconciliation via a patient portal on medication discrepancies: a randomized noninferiority study.

January 26, 2022

Evaluation of policies limiting opioid exposure on opioid prescribing and patient pain in opioid-naive patients undergoing elective surgery in a large American health system.

March 8, 2023

Child-specific risk factors and patient safety.

May 11, 2005

The quality of hospital work environments and missed nursing care is linked to heart failure readmissions: a cross-sectional study of US hospitals.

March 4, 2015

Improving the approach to defining, classifying, reporting and monitoring adverse events in seriously ill older adults: recommendations from a multi-stakeholder convening.

June 15, 2022

Antecedent treat-and-release diagnoses prior to sepsis hospitalization among adult emergency department patients: a look-back analysis employing insurance claims data using Symptom-Disease Pair Analysis of Diagnostic Error (SPADE) methodology.

December 8, 2021

Rate of sepsis hospitalizations after misdiagnosis in adult emergency department patients: a look-forward analysis with administrative claims data using Symptom-Disease Pair Analysis of Diagnostic Error methodology in an integrated health system.

May 12, 2021

Safety in Anaesthesia.

June 15, 2011

Nurses Transforming Care.

December 2, 2009

The Science of Simulation in Healthcare: Defining and Developing Clinical Expertise.

November 19, 2008

Patient Safety.

November 21, 2018

Evidence-based Recommendations for Best Practices in Weight Loss Surgery.

March 27, 2005

Related Resources

How different countries respond to adverse events whilst patients' rights are protected.

September 27, 2023

A Conversation Among Stakeholders on Medical Malpractice.

April 26, 2022 - April 26, 2022

Proceed with reasonable care: when legal principles inform training to prevent harm during the childbirth.

February 9, 2022

‘He thought what he was doing was good for people.’ Why is it so difficult to prevent unnecessary medical procedures in the U.S. health-care system?

September 1, 2021

The role of apology laws in medical malpractice.

July 7, 2021

Another medical malpractice crisis?: Try something different.

October 14, 2020

As college students return, a crisis in campus care awaits.

July 29, 2020

Apology laws and malpractice liability: what have we learned?

July 8, 2020

A 25-year-old teacher died after waiting hours at the ER. She's not the only one who saw delays.

March 11, 2020

Before mea culpa, Children’s was confident its air systems weren’t source of infection

December 11, 2019

My patient almost died from a mistake I made. I apologized and it changed my life.

November 6, 2019

Lessons learned from a death outside a hospital's doorstep.

June 26, 2019

"Sorry" is never enough: how state apology laws fail to reduce medical malpractice liability risk.

April 24, 2019

Death by 1,000 clicks: where electronic health records went wrong.

March 27, 2019

When mistakes happen.

December 19, 2018

Effects of a communication-and-resolution program on hospitals' malpractice claims and costs.

December 19, 2018

Insulin pumps have most reported problems in FDA database.

December 5, 2018

My human doctor.

October 17, 2018

Do written disclosures of serious events increase risk of malpractice claims? One health care system's experience.

May 30, 2018

The impact of incident disclosure behaviors on medical malpractice claims.

July 19, 2017

Two words can soothe patients who have been harmed: we're sorry.

March 29, 2017

Clues to better health care from old malpractice lawsuits.

May 18, 2016

Navigating risks in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

October 28, 2015

Hospitals slow to adopt patient apology policies.

September 2, 2015

To be sued less, doctors should consider talking to patients more.

June 10, 2015

Why empathy may be the best risk management strategy.

March 11, 2015

Full disclosure of medical errors reduces malpractice claims and claim costs for health system.

February 4, 2015

Explaining the unexplainable—the impact of physicians' attitude towards litigation on their incident disclosure behaviour.

January 7, 2015

The right and wrong way to talk to patients about adverse events.

June 25, 2014

Patient harm: when an attorney won't take your case.

January 22, 2014

See More About The Topic

Physicians

Malpractice Litigation

Patient Disclosure