Should Doctors Admit More Of Their Mistakes?

i_accept_your_apology_sticker-p217466643065825983qjcl_400.jpgA new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that when hospitals and doctors admit their mistakes and offer immediate upfront compensation to their patients, they succeed in driving down their medical malpractice liability costs.
The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) program studied by the researchers is truly remarkable. If UMHS discovers its doctors have committed malpractice, it discloses that fact to the patient, even if the patient is unaware that he has been injured by malpractice.
Why this program works and, if indeed it has been efficacious, is anyone’s guess. Ted Frank gives it his tentative endorsement but cautions that the numbers could be skewed by the absence of one or two large medical malpractice cases. Katherine Hobson notes that the implementation of the program coincides with an overall decline in the number of medical malpractice claims in Michigan and a decrease in the size of those claims.
I can see a few reasons why this program might work. For one thing, delaying compensation in cases of obvious malpractice does nothing but foster animosity toward the hospital and doctors. Injured people’s resolve starts to harden when they can’t pay their bills because they’re out of work and months have gone by without them seeing any money. Secondly, if you get people to sign a full release of their claims before the day-to-day reality of living with their injury has really sunk in, they might be willing to accept a smaller amount of money. Lastly, if patients are entering into these agreements without the benefit of legal counsel or discovery that uncovers all the facts, they might be selling themselves short.
Of course none of these rationales for the program’s success can explain the most remarkable part of the study: that the number of medical errors apparently declined. Maybe knowing that their mistakes will be discovered by the patient, regardless of whether the patient perceives the mistake, makes doctors act more carefully?


If you have been injured by medical malpractice and require the services of a Boston medical malpractice lawyer, call The Law Office of Alan H. Crede today at (617)973-6434.