Errors and Apologies

By Quinn Phillips Last month, Pennsylvania became the 36th state to adopt a "benevolent gesture" law following its unanimous approval by the state's House of Representatives and the signature of Gov. Tom Corbett. As noted in an article in The Pennsylvania Record, a legal journal, the law allows medical professionals to discuss medical errors with patients — including apologizing for mistakes — without the risk of their words being used against them in a lawsuit, if the patient (or his or her family) decides to sue over the matter. Despite the overwhelming support that the measure ended up receiving, its supporters in the legislature had been working on passing it for eight years — an indication of the powerful competing interests, from trial lawyers to hospitals, that seek to influence the legal landscape surrounding medical malpractice claims. As quoted in the Record article, the law's main sponsor in the legislature, Sen. Pat Vance (who happens to be a registered nurse), noted that since the University of Michigan began to encourage its medical staff to apologize for mistakes starting in 2001, the rate of malpractice claims has fallen by about 50%. She expressed her hope that Pennsylvania would see similar results following its adoption of the new law. According to a statement in the article by the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, a group representing long-term care providers, many patients file malpractice claims out of anger against what they percei...
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