Partnership for Patient Safety Joins Effort to Build Support for Federal Sorry Works! Bill (S. 1784)

CHICAGO, January 13, 2006 - Partnership for Patient Safety (p4ps) announced today its support for the National Medical Error Disclosure and Compensation (MEDiC) Act (S. 1784), and that it is joining The Sorry Works! Coalition petition drive to generate grassroots support for the bill. “Introduction of the National MEDiC Act opens a whole new space for consideration of malpractice reform that improves patient safety and actually strengthens the physician-patient relationship,” said Martin J. Hatlie, JD, p4ps President. “It’s a fresh, innovative approach for everyone interested in aligning patient safety and legal reform.”

Introduced in 2005 by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) and Barack Obama (D-Illinois), S. 1784 provides funding to incentivize and protect healthcare organizations and malpractice insurers that agree to implement programs to fully disclose medical errors to patients and family members who experience them. The bill also encourages apologies for medical error by providing that they will not be used against defendants as admissions of breach of the standard of care in malpractice litigation.

The Sorry Works! Coalition successfully worked with Illinois lawmakers in 2005 to enact a disclosure incentivization pilot program as part of a larger medical malpractice reform law. Illinois supporters included Republicans and Democrats, lawyers and physicians, liability insurers and consumers. “Our approach cuts across all stakeholder groups interested in infusing medical honesty back into healthcare,” said Doug Wojcieszak, spokesperson for The Sorry Works! Coalition. “1784 builds on and has the potential to expand this same community of interest nationwide.”

The Sorry Works! approach is based on numerous studies which find that patients and families want to know what happened when a patient is harmed, and tend to sue less when they get that information. Disclosing and apologizing also helps doctors, nurses and other providers deal with the trauma of being involved in a medical error that causes patient injury or death. Health systems and malpractice insurers which have implemented disclosure programs have reduced litigation and saved money. “If we break through the fear barrier patients get treated more respectfully, healers heal themselves, and costs are reduced for hospitals and insurers,” said Hatlie. “That’s win/win/win/win.”

p4ps encourages concerned individuals as well as organizational representatives to sign the Sorry Works! petition in support of S. 1784. “Every name is important, no voice is too small,” added Hatlie. “We want to encourage Senate hearings on this bill.”

The petition can be signed on-line and downloadable petition forms are available at the Sorry Works! website – http://sorryworks.net/petition.phtml

About Partnership for Patient Safety

Partnership for Patient Safety (p4ps) is a patient-centered initiative to advance the reliability of healthcare systems worldwide. The mission of p4ps is to initiate focused partnerships and joint ventures with organizations and individuals that share its core values and objectives of achieving a healthcare system that is authentically patient-centered and systems-based.

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Contact:

Martin J. Hatlie, JD, President
Partnership for Patient Safety
(312) 274-9695
mhatlie@p4ps.org

About The Sorry Works! Coalition

The Sorry Works! Coalition is a nationwide group of doctors, patient advocates, lawyers, and insurers that promotes full-disclosure as a middle ground solution to the medical malpractice crisis. The group believes full-disclosure reduces lawsuits and liability costs for doctors while providing swift justice to more victims and reducing medical errors.

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Contact:

Doug Wojcieszak, Spokesperson
The Sorry Works! Coalition
(618-559-8168)
doug@sorryworks.net

Read an article on Sorry Works! Coalition