Honestmed
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Physician's "Reluctant" to Disclose
A recent Archives of Internal Medicine survey on physician disclosure of medical errors to patients indicates that "doctors seem reluctant to provide what patients deserve and say they want: an explicit acknowledgement of error, information about why it happened and an apology from their physician," according to a New York Times editorial (New York Times, 9/9). For the survey, researchers from the University of Washington interviewed 1,404 surgeons and general practitioners in Canada, which limits medical liability and discourages medical malpractice lawsuits, and 1,233 surgeons and general practitioners in Washington and Missouri, two states considered to have high malpractice insurance costs. Researchers asked survey participants to respond to specific scenarios in which they had committed medical errors (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/18). "The doctors talked a good game" -- 98% said that they support disclosure of serious medical errors to patients -- but "most had something less than full disclosure in mind," the editorial states, adding, "If the error were apt to become obvious ... the doctors were far more apt to admit error and apologize than if the error was too subtle for most patients to recognize." The editorial states, "Changes in medical education to encourage disclosure of errors would surely help, as would computerized systems to detect errors that might otherwise remain unnoticed" (New York Times, 9/9).
"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
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Physicians "Reluctant" To Disclose Medical Errors To Patients, Editorial States
13 Sep 2006A recent Archives of Internal Medicine survey on physician disclosure of medical errors to patients indicates that "doctors seem reluctant to provide what patients deserve and say they want: an explicit acknowledgement of error, information about why it happened and an apology from their physician," according to a New York Times editorial (New York Times, 9/9). For the survey, researchers from the University of Washington interviewed 1,404 surgeons and general practitioners in Canada, which limits medical liability and discourages medical malpractice lawsuits, and 1,233 surgeons and general practitioners in Washington and Missouri, two states considered to have high malpractice insurance costs. Researchers asked survey participants to respond to specific scenarios in which they had committed medical errors (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/18). "The doctors talked a good game" -- 98% said that they support disclosure of serious medical errors to patients -- but "most had something less than full disclosure in mind," the editorial states, adding, "If the error were apt to become obvious ... the doctors were far more apt to admit error and apologize than if the error was too subtle for most patients to recognize." The editorial states, "Changes in medical education to encourage disclosure of errors would surely help, as would computerized systems to detect errors that might otherwise remain unnoticed" (New York Times, 9/9).
"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medic
