Medical Error and Disclosure in Quality Care and Patient Safety- : An Overview

• Published in: Indian journal of clinical biochemistry 2022-05, Vol.32 (S1), p.S18
• Main Author: Kalra, Jawahar Jay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bioethics; Care and treatment; Disclosure of information; Health care reform; Medical care; Medical errors; Patients; Physician and patient; Quality management
• ISSN: 0970-1915

Adverse events are inevitable due to the complexity of the healthcare process. Medical errors have gained significance due to their increased prevalence which is detrimental to the safety of patients. Failure to inform the patient of adverse events caused by a medical error compromises the autonomy of the patient. It also jeopardizes the opportunity to improve the quality in health care. Disclosure of an adverse event is an important element in managing the consequences of a medical error. Physicians should seek to disclose medical errors to patients and their families on both ethical and pragmatic grounds. By following an open disclosure policy, patient's autonomy can be preserved and malpractice claims can be reduced effectively. The complexities of medical error disclosure to patients present ideal opportunities for medical educators to probe how learners are balancing the ethical complexities involved in error disclosure. The designing of an error disclosure policy requires integration of various aspects including bioethics, physician-patient communication, quality of care, and team-based care delivery. There are many policies and procedures proposed by the national and international regulators to have consistent and standard medical error disclosure and reporting policies. The majority of provinces in Canada have adopted some form of a disclosure policy while others are in the process of developing such policies. These Canadian provincial initiatives, though similar in content, remain isolated because of their non-mandatory nature and absence of federal or provincial laws on disclosure. We suggest a uniform policy centered on addressing errors in a non-punitive manner and respecting the patient's right to an honest disclosure should be a standard of care.