Openness on medical mishaps wins praise

A draft statement aimed at helping doctors disclose their mistakes to patients is a step in the right direction, an expert in the field says.

The Medical Council yesterday released the draft statement, saying it was important "adverse outcomes" were identified and examined so the same mistakes were not made again.

In 2001, Professor Peter Davis of the University of Otago's Christchurch Medical School released research which found more than one in eight public hospital patients would suffer a medical mishap.

Yesterday, Professor Davis said: "I think it's good to see this initiative. What patients look for, generally, is an apology, an explanation of what went on and an undertaking its recurrence will be prevented."

The draft statement examines what type of information should be disclosed - what the patient expected, and what a doctor should address.

Professor Davis said patients normally did not want to label blame but find faults, and the draft was not absolutely clear on that point.

"I don't know that it's possible to get around admitting to a patient that something went wrong.

"That doesn't necessarily involve attributing blame but it does involve admission either the team, the individual or the institution mucked up in some way."

However, the draft made a lot of sense from the point of view of doing the right thing and of preventing later problems.

"In general it's good for professionals, including the medical profession, to show a degree of accountability. It also opens up the possibility of learning [from mistakes].

"The key positive is you are less likely to get patient complaints getting larger and going on, and you can learn from this.

"Unless there is an acceptance among doctors and others, then it's harder to learn without things being more open."

Professor Davis said a key finding from his earlier study was that adverse events could lead to up to another week in hospital for patients, placing further strain on health resources.

The Medical Council president, Professor John Campbell, said a major factor in doctors' reluctance to openly disclose harm to patients and their families was the fear of liability and the possibility of a complaint.

The closing date for comment on the statement is April 16.

- NZPA