Although poor communication is the root cause of medical malpractice claims, in cases of medical error, apologies reduce litigation and benefit patients.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(3):289-295. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.3.hlaw1-1703.
Jennifer Aldrich, MD, Jessica Kant, MSW, LICSW, MPH, and Eric Gramszlo
Estelle v Gamble (1976) reiterates that the 8th Amendment to the US Constitution requires adequate care to be offered to all people who are incarcerated.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(6):E407-413. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.407.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., may prevent consumers injured by medical devices that have FDA premarket approval from receiving compensation.
Health courts using a "no-fault" model have been proposed as a less expensive and more time-effective alternative to medical malpractice litigation, but their legality and the fairness of the verdicts they produce remains to be seen.
I’m sorry laws, enacted in the majority of states, encourage physicians to apologize for unexpected outcomes and errors by making such apologies inadmissible in civil court to prove liability.