Word: patients
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...time when hospitals and doctors are desperate to reduce the rising costs of malpractice insurance and litigation, apologizing for medical mistakes may seem to some like legal suicide. But to a widening coalition of players on all sides of the issue--from doctors, hospital administrators and insurance executives to patient advocates, politicians and even trial lawyers--it may actually be a step in the right direction. Since many of these players believe malpractice lawsuits are motivated as much by feelings of frustration as by the almighty dollar, in their view, honesty may indeed be the best policy...
...been sufficiently compassionate and communicative. Although she's not a scientific researcher, Jennifer Dingman of Pueblo, Colo., knows that firsthand. Soon after her mother died in 1995 at age 78 as a result of a series of misdiagnoses and medication errors, Dingman started a patient-advocacy organization called PULSE, or Persons United Limiting Substandards and Errors in health care. "In every scenario, people who have filed lawsuits wish they hadn't had to go through this," she says. "One hundred percent of the time, we hear, 'If only the doctor had apologized...
...judgment--not just about the scale of the U.S.'s problems in Iraq, but also about the wisdom of pinning so much hope on the idea that bringing democracy to societies that have never known it is the best strategy for making Americans safer. Rice has never been patient: as an aide to Brent Scowcroft in the first Bush Administration, she chafed at Scowcroft's cautious steps to encourage democratization in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. But the East European model can't easily be replicated in the Islamic world. From the Palestinian territories to Pakistan--and even...
Physicians fear being sued by patients, a well- known fact, but many also worry about being targeted by fellow doctors through the process of peer review. Allegations of poor care or other serious complaints against a doctor go to a panel, consisting mainly of physicians, that decides in secret whether the accused has done wrong. That system is too open to manipulation and needs reform, says the 4,000-member American Association of Physicians and Surgeons. The Semmelweis Society agrees; its 85 members are mostly doctors who claim to be victims of "malicious peer review," in which the process...
...doctors don't act, voters may do it for them. In November, Floridians approved a constitutional amendment giving patients access to records related to "adverse medical incidents," including peer-review reports. Several states are mulling similar laws. Some doctors fear exposing the process to the public will inhibit physicians from reporting and forcefully investigating problems and will ultimately hurt the quality of patient care. Publicity could also open hospitals to more malpractice claims, even when panels find no wrongdoing. Trial lawyers sponsored the Florida amendment. --By Jeff...