It’s hard to sue someone you like.
At least, that’s the way Dennis Geisleman sees it. Geisleman is a Fort Wayne attorney who handles injury claims including professional negligence such as medical malpractice.
When bad things happen to patients, a doctor’s empathy and caring go a long way to defuse the situation, he says, and reduce the likelihood of a lawsuit. It’s not so much the saying “sorry” as taking the initiative in addressing the problem.
“It is relational” and it is about the trust a doctor has built with the patient, Geisleman said.
He and another local attorney who handles medical malpractice cases say that kind of approach isn’t standard operating procedure.
The estimated $5.8 billion annual cost of malpractice claims nationwide has drawn scrutiny as President Obama and Congress plot an overhaul of the nation’s $2.4 trillion health care system. So far, Obama has spoken in broad terms about shielding doctors from unwarranted lawsuits without capping damage awards, but medical malpractice is an issue that deeply divides. Doctors, hospitals, trial lawyers and patient advocates disagree not only on the solution but also on the problem itself.
Is it the high price of malpractice insurance? The difficulty for victims of medical errors getting justice? The cost of unneeded tests ordered by lawsuit-wary doctors? The “burying” of medical errors that kill tens of thousands of Americans yearly?
David Farnbauch, managing partner of Sweeney Law Firm in Fort Wayne, said that when patients meet with him, it’s usually because they couldn’t get answers from their doctor or hospital. Farnbauch said he wishes the medical system would be more forthcoming.
Dr. Jeffrey Brookes, chief medical officer for Parkview Health’s community hospitals, said that many hospitals’ policies – Parkview’s included – reflect research showing that being upfront is best for hospitals and patients. He said Parkview hospitals are vigilant and when a doctor has clearly committed an error, responsibility is taken for that. Still, Brookes said, sometimes answers take time and require an internal investigation to determine what went wrong and whether anyone is at fault.
A spokeswoman for Lutheran Health Network said it also takes the initiative about addressing medical errors.
“If we make a mistake, we will disclose that to the patient,” Lizette Downey said. “We take responsibility for that” and if an apology is necessary, it’s made, she said.
Network namesake Lutheran Hospital was sued this month for leaving a sponge in a patient three years ago. Officials with the network aren’t commenting on the lawsuit but a medical review panel did not find evidence that the hospital failed to comply with the appropriate standard of care, according to court documents.
Lutheran Hospital reported to the state about accidentally leaving a sponge in a patient in 2006, though it didn’t provide more details. A hospital official told The Journal Gazette in 2007 that it had addressed the error, adding that the analysis of the error focused on the process, not on a person.
Regardless of whether a doctor is to blame, it’s important to show compassion when a patient suffers an outcome like a surgery complication, medical and legal officials say.
Dr. Scott Karr, a local orthopedic surgeon who specializes in foot and ankle care, says it’s natural to apologize to patients when something bad happens, even if it isn’t medical malpractice.
The way he sees it, there are two situations that call for a “sorry”: When a known complication occurs through no fault of the doctor, and when a doctor clearly makes a mistake, in which case the doctor should accept responsibility, he said.
Karr is with Orthopaedics Northeast, a member of the doctor-owned medical malpractice insurance firm Fort Wayne Medical Surety Co.
The risk-retention group bought the book written by Doug Wojcieszak, founder and spokesman of The Sorry Works! Coalition, for each of the roughly 100 doctors associated with its 12 member medical practices. Medical Surety Co. invited Wojcieszak to speak with doctors in February and March and adopted the coalition’s suggested disclosure policies.
Orthopaedics Northeast was an early adopter of those policies.
The policy calls for physicians to acknowledge an error or injury when it occurs, to make themselves accessible to patients, address the problem and apologize. The three A’s sharply contrast with the old approach advocated by malpractice insurance companies, said Steve Smith, a board member and officer with Medical Surety Co. That relied on another alliterative trio: deny, distance and defend.
Smith said adopting Sorry Works! principles is, first and foremost, “the right thing to do.” But it’s a prudent business strategy as well, he said.
It will be a few years before Medical Surety Co. can evaluate the effect of the disclosure policy on medical malpractice lawsuits filed against member doctors. But in medical systems where this has been applied, the number and severity of suits has gone down, Smith said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
