Asking for forgiveness may be oppressive to a patient or family still grappling with the fact of the harm, the impact of the harm, and their own emotional response to the harm.
Students more familiar with the quantifiable knowledge taught in medical and premedical curricula become aware that this perspective is not the only or even the most comprehensive way to see health, illness, and healing.
Physicians working in close-knit communities, whether small towns or urban neighborhoods, have to manage relationships with people who may be simultaneously patients and neighbors, friends, and business associates.