Apology legislation has gained traction in the United States health sector in recent years. The laws have gained significant attention in the recent past due to the belief that apologies made by healthcare providers and professionals for serious medical events help to mitigate patients’ decisions on whether to litigate. Currently, these laws have been enacted in twenty-nine states. Based on the provisions of most of these laws, the apologetic expressions of sympathy by healthcare providers cannot be used against them in court. The United States has witnessed the increased implementation of apology legislation as part of the movement to dismantle what has traditionally been a deny-and-defend culture in medical practice. According to Daigle (2017), the enactment of apology legislation is expected to help avoid lawsuits, lessen the overall administrative costs related to litigating cases, enhance communication between parties, promote alternative dispute resolution, and lessen malpractice insurance and overall healthcare costs.
While these laws have some benefits, there are concerns on the extent to which they help prevent or reduce malpractice claims. Stakeholders within the healthcare sector are increasingly concerned about whether apology legislation has an impact on preventing/lessening malpractice claims in medical practice. Studies on the effectiveness of apology laws have shown that they are not entirely effective in preventing malpractice claims. Even though apology laws have reduced malpractice claims, they have failed to prevent them and are not effectively accomplishing their intended purposes. The failure is attributable to the fact that these laws promote and protect ineffective apologies from healthcare providers to patients (Davis, 2016). These laws are filled with restrictions and a substantial amount of legalese that make it difficult for healthcare providers to continue apologizing. Therefore, apology legislation has failed to achieve the intended purpose and failed to reduce malpractice claims, which is a growing problem in the US.
References
Daigle, E. (2017). Apology Law: A Federal Standard for the Protection of Apologies Following Medical Harm. Journal of Health Care Finance, 136(140), 1-18. Retrieved from https://healthfinancejournal.com/index.php/johcf/article/download/136/140
Davis, E.R. (2016). I’m Sorry I’m Scared of Litigation: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Apology Laws. The Forum: A Tennessee Student Legal Journal, 3(1), 70-100. Retrieved from https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=forum
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