The Sorry Works! Coalition

The Sorry Works! Coalition is a new, nationwide organization of doctors, lawyers, insurers, and patient advocates dedicated to promoting full-disclosure and apologies for medical errors as a “middle ground solution” to the medical liability crisis.

The coalition advocates that after every bad outcome or adverse event hospitals and doctors perform root cause analyses to determine if the standard of care was met.

If a root cause analysis showed that the standard of care was not met (i.e, a medical error, negligence), the hospital staff and doctors apologize to the patient/family, provide an explanation of what happened and how the hospital will fix the procedures so the error is not repeated, and make a fair offer of upfront compensation. The hospital attorney and plaintiffs’ attorney will usually negotiate the compensation and the case will be closed in a short period of time.

If, however, the standard of care was met (no errors), the hospital still meets with the patient/family and their attorney(s) and explains what happened, provides medical charts, and answers all questions. Hospitals and doctors show compassion, prove their innocence, and avoid any appearance of a cover up.

www.sorryworks.net