4MyChild: Help and Hope for Life

September 15, 2006

NY Times Editorial “When Doctors Hide Medical Errors”

In New York times editorial from Sept. 9, 2006, the issue of doctor error is brought to light. Doctors admitting what we patients have known for years; doctors make mistakes and are reluctant to admit their errors or take responsibility for them.

Excerpt:
The doctors talked a good game — fully 98 percent endorsed the need to disclose serious errors to patients, according to survey results published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. But most had something less than full disclosure in mind. Only 42 percent would actually use the word “error,” while 56 percent would mention the adverse event but not the error, relegating the harm to the “stuff happens” category. Only 33 percent would explicitly apologize for their mistake.

Many believe that the recent movement for tort reform, putting a ceiling on medical malpractice suits, would encourage more doctors to come forward and admit their mistakes.

The New York Times editorial offers the suggestions of more education to encourage disclosure and computerized systems to detect error.

To read full article visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09sat4.html?_r=1&oref=slogin