Presented by: Liability and the Transparency Movement

Healthcare reform is moving toward more frequent disclosure of medical errors. The question is whether disclosure will increase the liability exposure of physicians and healthcare organizations.

As somebody who represents hospitals and physicians, it worries me tremendously that we’ll be mandated to make disclosures but we won’t have the necessary protection when we make them that they’re not used against us.

Jim Kennedy, Carlton Fields

There is substantial evidence that admitting responsibility for medical errors can reduce the number of medical liability lawsuits. But there’s still a great deal of concern that mandatory disclosure of medical errors could provide ammunition for a very active trial bar. This is especially true in states whose laws are especially friendly to the plaintiff bar. Therefore, any requirements for mandatory disclosure of errors need to be coupled with effective tort reform.

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