"Sorry Works!" Coalition & Book

When patients are injured in the process of care it is extremly important that all people involved in a simple adverse event (AE) or responsible for an evident medical error understand well the procedures to follow
The complexity of patient safety incidents was recently explained in the document elaborated under the leadership of WHO: "International Patient Safety Event Classification".
In the imperfect world of daily practice some issues are critical for patients as well as for the providers of care. The legal framework for Health Care can vary from country to country. Some principles of "after harm" behavior are similar.
The injured patients and their families can accept an unexpected event and bad outcomes. They expect to be treated with openess, honesty and serious commitment to repair and compensation. Deficient communication or cover-ups cause anger and result in litigation and malpractice lawsuits. In February 2005 Doug Wojcieszek created in Chicago "The Sorry Works! Coalition". It is U.S. nationwide group of healthcare, insurance, and legal professionals as well as patients, families, and consumers.

by: Richard Cranovsky. on 02-02-2008

The rationale for "Sorry Works Coalition" and the methods applied in its programme are presented in the book published in December 2007.
"Sorry Works! - Disclosure, Apology, and Relationships Prevent Medical Malpractice Claims". Doug Wojcieszak, James W. Saxton, Magie M. Finkelstein. AutorHouse. Bloomington, Indiana 2007. ISBN:978-1-4343-5497-6 (sc).
I am involved since my habilitation lecture 1976 at University of Bern in issues related to medical reasoning and decision making as well as in problems of adverse events. I was aware of various programmes of no-fault compensation and other methods belonging to larger category of "alternative dispute resolutions". It was very interesting to read the practice-oriented, detailled desciption of disclosure, apology and compensation/repair negotiations.
As President of PULSE, N.Y., Ilene Corina has written: This is "how-to" manual for providers who want to reconnect with patients and families after adverse medical events. I fully agree with her and would like to add that advice given in this book in ethical and legal matters will fit, "mutatis mutandis", in health care provision systems in Europe. It will certainly help doctors and other health care professionals to improve their behavior and to build up the culture of safe and just care.

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	Link
	http://www.sorryworks.net This link will lead you to "Sorry Works!" site and newsletter on the web. Recent version of the newsletter includes more information & download concerning the programme and the book,