Healthcare Providers Begin Adopting 'Disclosure and Apology' Policy for Medical Errors

By Daniel Hawn

Published on February 12, 2007

Disclosure and apology policies involve informing patients of medical errors immediately and honestly, and many policies include an immediate offer of financial settlement. For many years, “defend and deny” was the policy recommended by insurers and risk managers, who feared that full disclosure would encourage patients to pursue lawsuits.

Statistics on the effects of the policy shift have shown just the opposite result, however. The University of Michigan Health System reports on its website that it was served with 260 suits in 2001, the year before it implemented a disclosure and apology policy. In 2006, the number was down to 100. The U-M Health System has also seen the average legal cost per case decrease by more than 50 percent.

In an effort to facilitate the adoption of these new policies, lawmakers in several states have passed legislation that prohibits a doctor’s apology from being used as evidence at trial. In addition, a growing number of hospitals have implemented polices requiring medical professionals to inform patients about errors and apologize when appropriate.

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