Surgical patients in New York hospitals certainly dread the possibility of errors during a procedure. A changing attitude about disclosing mistakes to patients, however, could result in them hearing about mistakes more often. Commenting about the challenges of informing patients, a professor of health policy, management, medicine and surgery said that physicians also endure negative emotions about their mistakes. Communicating them to patients is a challenge.
Surgical patients in New York hospitals certainly dread the possibility of errors during a procedure. A changing attitude about disclosing mistakes to patients, however, could result in them hearing about mistakes more often. Commenting about the challenges of informing patients, a professor of health policy, management, medicine and surgery said that physicians also endure negative emotions about their mistakes. Communicating them to patients is a challenge.
He said that during the 1980s a code of silence within the surgical profession inhibited disclosure to patients. Health care providers and educators have shifted their policies in recent years. At Johns Hopkins, for example, administrators installed an error disclosure policy in 2000. Health care workers do not face punishments for admitting to an error. The policy also requires that patients be informed promptly and offered a clear apology. Taking responsibility instead of avoiding the issue has become the new approach, the professor explained.
Surgeons, in general, have a list of eight guidelines for ethically reporting an error. A small survey of surgeons across 12 specialties found that the majority met their ethical obligations for five out of the eight codes of conduct. These five practices were telling the patient what happened, disclosing within 24 hours of the procedure, apologizing, caring for the patient’s welfare and treating the resulting problems.
When a surgical mistake occurs, a patient might want to know if it was negligence. If the surgeon failed to meet the applicable standards of care, then damages might be recoverable through a medical malpractice lawsuit. Incidents such as wrong-site surgery, organ perforation or pre-operative care errors might be grounds for a case. An attorney who represents medical victims can be of assistance in seeking appropriate compensation.
