Medical error in the care of the unrepresented: disclosure and apology for a vulnerable patient population.
Byju AS, Mayo K. Medical error in the care of the unrepresented: disclosure and apology for a vulnerable patient population. J Med Ethics. 2019;45(12):821-823. doi:10.1136/medethics-2019-105633.
Managing errors that affect patients who lack decision-making capacity and a designated decision-maker is a new area of concern. This commentary discusses moral, ethical, legal, and clinical reasons for health care to examine how to respond when such a situation occurs. The authors hope to motivate development of needed protocols and best practices to ensure that this vulnerable patient population is respectfully and completely informed after medical errors.