When mistakes are made, a doctor's apology goes a long way

TAMPA, Fla. - After the chief of staff at James A. Haley VA Medical Center realized that a veteran had died after receiving poor care, he told the man's family that he was sorry.

Simple words, yet once doctors rarely spoke them, even after mistakes so horrific they cost lives.

But that's changing. As part of the national patient-safety movement, several groups are pushing hospitals and doctors to own up to mistakes by apologizing to patients.

"It's a massive cultural shift," said Doug Wojcieszak, founder of an Illinois-based group called the Sorry Works! Coalition. "For decades, the typical approach of hospitals and their insurance carriers was shut up, and literally break off communications with the family."

While doctors and hospitals still are often reluctant to admit wrongdoing, apologizing and going public occurs more often.

"We think it's important, if the family is comfortable, to be public about our mistakes, so others can learn," said Jane Schumaker, senior associate dean and CEO of the University of Florida faculty group practice.

Schumaker was among the officials from UF and Shands Hospital who apologized to Gainesville residents Horst and Luisa Ferrero last fall, after a massive medication overdose killed their 3-year-old boy.

"The loss of a child is the worst thing that can happen to anybody," Horst Ferrero said. "Trying to prove that your son died because of a medical mistake makes it even harder. The fact that they did recognize that it was their fault did have a positive impact on the way everything developed."

The parents received an $850,000 settlement and are now raising money to build a children's hospital in Gainesville. They count many Shands doctors among their supporters.

Advocates say that when doctors apologize, patients are less likely to file lawsuits, saving on hospitals' legal costs. The University of Michigan Health System cut its lawsuits by half and cut legal costs per case from $65,000 to $35,000 after instituting a policy of apologizing, Wojcieszak said.

Hospitals should offer settlements to injured patients and tell them they may need a lawyer, he said. A key step is the explanation of how to keep the mistake from happening again.

"Everybody thinks patients and families are out for blood, out to sue," said Wojcieszak, whose brother died after a hospital failed to properly treat his heart attack. "The truth is, they want somebody to level with them, and they want to make sure it doesn't happen again."