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February 23, 2009 NEWSLETTER
Doug Wojcieszak, Founder & Spokesperson
Contact phone/e-mail address: 618-559-8168; doug@sorryworks.net
THIS WEEK'S EDITION:
ELDERLY MAN BEATEN TO DEATH - NO "SORRY" FROM NURSING HOME
SORRY WORKS! BOOK FOR DOCTORS' DAY (MARCH 30TH)
QUESTIONS FROM THE ROAD
UPDATE FROM CANADA
ELDERLY MAN BEATEN TO DEATH - NO "SORRY" FROM NURSING HOME
Put this one under the category of "Empathy is always appropriate" & post-adverse event communication is absolutely critical. A nursing home resident is brutally beaten to death by another resident, and the nursing home staff can't even say "sorry" or show other forms of sympathy/compassion to the family? How inhumane and how stupid! Yes, the home will probably be sued (the article below says the family has retained counsel), and the home probably should be liable to some degree, but talk about angering the family and motivating their attorney by showing no empathy or compassion. No promise to investigate or report back in a credible fashion either? No communication - period! No wonder the family sought counsel - they were abandoned! This home has done all they can to increase the value of the case. Stupid, stupid. Read below!
Elderly Man Beaten To Death
Reported by: Rebecca Smith Email: rsmith@fox23.com Last Update: 2/16 9:44 pm
Muskogee, OK-- Family members of Ernest Maxwell, Sr. are preparing to bury their beloved family member with too many questions and not enough answers.
"It's just hard. It's extremely hard," said Darlena Russell, Maxwell's daughter.
For Russell, the last 16 days have been what she describes as a nightmare.
Her dad died Sunday at St. John's Medical Center from severe head and neck trauma.
Pictures of a bloody, battered man are a far cry from snapshots taken earlier of a life well-lived.
"He was here Christmas, birthdays, with a smile," said Russell.
Muskogee police say another man staying at the Park Boulevard Care Center beat Maxwell with a cane on January 30.
"The nursing home has not called us," she said. "No 'I'm sorry for your loss.'"
They wouldn't comment for us either.
According to www.medicare.gov the Park Boulevard Care Center, which has been licensed since 1994, was last inspected in September.
It scored average with three out of five stars.
Still, Darlena says, in her mind that's little consolation for what's happened to her dad.
"We were told we haven't heard nothing, we don't know what happened. Well, how could you not know what happened. You're in that facility and you're liable for my dad's life."
Muskogee Police say Charles Van Beber has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon in this case.
We were also told by police he's no longer at the nursing home. He's undergoing a mental evaluation at an Okmulgee mental facility.
The nursing home hasn't been criminally charged.
Darlena says she has filed a civil lawsuit.
SORRY WORKS! BOOKS FOR DOCTORS' DAY (MARCH 30TH)
Doctors' Day - March 30th - is fast approaching, and even in this tough economy you need to show appreciation to your hardworking doctors. The Sorry Works! Book priced at just $24.99 per copy makes the perfect gift, and bulk discounts for large orders are available.
Disclosure is one of the hottest and most important topics for providers. The Sorry Works! Book is the "how to" manual on disclosure, covering all the important topics including empathy vs. true apology, how to establish a disclosure program, apologizing to patients and families, and confronting the typical challenges faced when implementing disclosure. However, the book is just 103 pages, so it's a quick, easy read for even the busiest physician.
To order your copy today, visit this link: http://www.sorryworks.net/booksoon.phtml. For bulk order pricing, call 618-559-8168 or e-mail doug@sorryworks.net.
QUESTIONS FROM THE ROAD
This week we continue our column of questions we received from Sorry Works! presentations. Last week Sorry Works! was in Indiana speaking to physicians insured by an RRG. Here's a a great question we received from the audience - as well as another question we recently received from a previous trip:
Question #1:"Sometimes we have an adverse event where we didn't make a mistake, but we want to waive part of the billing because chasing a few hundred dollars of charges might anger the patient/family, but our staff is saying we might be skirting insurance fraud by waving these bills."
Answer: A bit of a complicated question. At Sorry Works!, we do NOT believe in no-fault (patient is unhappy, wave bills or throw money at them). If a doc does his/her job, they should be paid - regardless However, good business/customer service practices sometime dictate waving a bill or not pursuing a debt. Each case is unique and they need to be judged on a case by case basis. As to the insurance question, this is where your disclosure program in concert with your legal counsel need to work on these issues.
Question #2:"It is ever too late to apologize? We have a case that is several months old and we should have been involved at the start communicating and empathizing, and perhaps apologizing, but, unfortunately, we let time pass and now the family has an attorney and a lawsuit will probably be filed."
Answer:No, it's never too late to apologize. Obviously, the sooner the better. The delay in appropriate post-adverse event communications angered the family and increased the value of the case in the eyes of plaintiff's counsel. And the later you wait, the more complicated it can be to deliver empathy or apology. Has plaintiff's counsel totally shut down communication? At some point, however, windows will open where the providers/hospital can express their feelings - and those feelings will be felt by the patient/family. And what can plaintiff's counsel say...they care about my client?
Think of it in reverse: How many successful plaintiffs have said the money/settlement was great, but they still felt hollow? They needed acknowledgment of the harm and acceptance of responsibility to move on with their lives.
Yes, sorry is always appropriate and welcome.
CANADA UPDATE
Another update from our friends north of the border. The Canadians are working hard to embrace disclosure, and if they can simply let go of their insistence that a law needs to be passed for physicians to apologize they will make even greater strides. Indeed, honesty and a willingness to fix problems are the greatest defense ever created - hence no legislative protections are really necessary. Just some training/reprogramming of defense counsel on how to argue a case on the damages only. Oh, and the Canadians need to drop the word "regret" from their vocabulary and replace with "sorry" and also embrace other truth telling words like "mistake" and "error."
In short, Canadians need to let go of their fears and fully embrace disclosure.
Apologies abound: advances in adverse-event disclosure
Ann Silversides
CMAJ
Canadian physicians seeking to improve communication with patients who have been harmed are getting plenty of assistance.
Ontario late last year became the fourth province to unveil apology legislation, while the Canadian Patient Safety Institute and the Canadian Medical Protective Association released guidelines for disclosing harm to patients.
The measures are complementary, since the intent of the guidelines is to "remove concerns about potential legal liability and other sanctions" when health professionals tell patients about harm, says Brent Windwick, chair of the Institute's legal and regulatory affairs advisory committee.
Windwick warns that apology legislation does not remove the need for effective and thorough training for health professionals about how to tell patients about adverse events. But it will "remove a significant source of hesitation" about speaking to patients who have suffered harm.
British Columbia was the first province to pass an apology act, in 2006, with Manitoba and Saskatchewan following suit in 2007.
But it's too early — and may never be possible — to credit Canadian legislation with having a clear impact on the number of medical – legal cases, says Dr. William Tucker, president of the protective association.
Expressions of sympathy can improve relations, he adds. "Families feel better if there is an acknowledgement that there has been an adverse event" and, after expressing regret and sympathy, it may be easier for a physician to carry on the therapeutic relationship.
If passed, Ontario's legislation will "promote accountability, transparency and patient safety by allowing open and frank discussions," according to a spokesman for the province's Ministry of the Attorney General.
Canadian apology legislation is broader than legislation in some Australian and US states where laws deal only with "expressions of regret" and stop short of addressing the issue of apology, says Windwick.
At its 2008 annual meeting, the Canadian Medical Association voted to lobby governments for appropriate apology legislation in all Canadian jurisdictions.
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