Friday, July 24, 2009

Saying ‘sorry’ pays off for U.S. doctors

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32011837/ns/health-health_care/

By David N. Goodman
updated 3:05 p.m. ET, Mon., July 20, 2009

DETROIT - When a treatment goes wrong at a U.S. hospital, fear of a lawsuit usually means “never daring to say you’re sorry.”

That’s not the way it works at the University of Michigan Health System, where lawyers and doctors say admitting mistakes up front and offering compensation before being sued have brought about remarkable savings in money, time and feelings.

“What we are doing is common decency,” said Richard Boothman, a veteran malpractice defense lawyer and chief risk officer for a health system with 18,000 employees and a $1.5 billion annual budget.

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According to Boothman, malpractice claims against his health system fell from 121 in 2001 to 61 in 2006, while the backlog of open claims went from 262 in 2001 to 106 in 2006 and 83 in 2007. Between 2001 and 2007, the average time to process a claim fell from about 20 months to about eight months, costs per claim were halved and insurance reserves dropped by two-thirds.

Boothman said the health system learns of possible medical errors from doctors themselves, as well as from patients or their lawyers. In any case, the university conducts a peer review to see if there was an error and if changes are needed to prevent a recurrence.

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Note another view, and counterexample, that someone left in a comment.
Posted by Patricia at 8:01 PM
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Read this story. Boothman did not apologize to this family. The Hereford family is owed an apology, instead Boothman adds insult to injury. It would be interesting to see the number of cases that Boothman and his hospital admit a mistake and make a genuine apology.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/20/AR2009072002298.html

Seems to me this is a brilliant PR strategy by Boothman and the hospital. They publicize that they apologize so when a patient doesn't receive an apology they will think they must have been mistaken.

All propaganda, and newspapers by printed these apology stories are helping to spread it. Reporters should check their stories before printing them. Check into the number of patients that do not receive an apology.

WHATEVER happened to being honest because it is the RIGHT thing to do? The US healthcare system is in shambles because of dishonesty. The patient pays the ultimate price.

7:33 AM
Patricia said...

Thank you for your comment and the link to the newspaper article.
It appears that in this case, the hospital did not apologize when they should have.
However, one case does not prove that they never apologize when they should. I would need to have more info to feel I was well-informed about this.
I'm not defending the hospital or the original article. I'm not a fan of the medical profession, and I know news media often don't get the facts right, but I try to be rational, honest, and fair.

9:20 PM

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