Managers and supervisors can take note on how hospitals are reducing their malpractice lawsuits by counseling their doctors to apologize when they make a mistake. 

Yes it’s true there is a lot to be learned about excellent leadership, communication and collaboration from the newspaper.  Part one of this article spoke about a casino tribal leader who overcame his predecessor’s bad leadership and communication to win over a community that had been dead set against any expansion of the casino in the wine country.  Here’s a story, in the same newspaper (The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, California) on the same day that further illustrates the points.  

The Value Of Saying You Are Sorry

When Dr. Tapas K. Das Gupta, chairman of surgical oncology at University of Illinois Medical Center discovered that he had removed tissue from the wrong rib of his patient, he did something that might have made some hospital lawyers cringe; he apologized to the patient!  He recalled saying, “After all these years, I cannot give you any excuse whatsoever.  It is just one of those things that occurred.  I have to some extent harmed you”.   

Wow, for decades malpractice lawyers have been advising doctors to 

“deny and defend” They felt that any admission of guilt, error or regret would invite more lawsuits. 

But with hospitals choking on lawsuits and patients demanding their rights some prominent hospitals like Stanford and Johns Hopkins are trying this new approach. 

They sit down with the patient and the family and apologize…sincerely and then offer fair compensation.  This has helped to reduce the number of lawsuits, not increase them.  And their malpractice insurance premiums are going down. In fact some provinces in Canada have enacted legislation that ensures that apologies will not be brought up in court if a doctor is sued after all.  

Why Are They Doing This?  

Because lawsuits are often fueled by anger and resentment.  It’s often not the mistake itself… it is the concealment. Exactly, I might add, what fuels employment lawsuits.  It’s not usually the actual incident, but the lack of recognition that there is a problem, the lack of an apology, and the lack a plan to correct any wrongs that send people to attorneys. An added reason for retaining an employment lawyer is the arrogance and lack of common courtesy that inflames people’s anger. People in HR have seen it a hundred times. Too often they recognize that if there had been a simple intervention, early in the process, things could have turned out so differently.  

While many doctors still don’t believe that they will be sued less often if they apologize, these hospitals are finding that the cost of lawsuits is going down. 

What’s The Lessons for Managers and Supervisors? 

Would it work in business and government?  You be the judge.  If a sincere apology and an attempt to make things right happened where you work…

• How many lawsuits and brouhahas could be prevented?

• How much could morale improve on a team?

• How many negative people would be silenced? 

In our comments section please leave your thoughts and ideas on this.  Tell us if you have apologized and what the outcome was.  Give us more examples of the good that can come from a sincere apology. 

Tags: Communication, New News, Rewards, Recognition //