Print edition: 
Being a doctor shouldn't mean never being able to say you're sorry. But because they are worried about being sued, some doctors are reluctant to tell patients and their families that they are sorry when something goes wrong. And, ironically, that tends to lead to lawsuits.
That's why it's good that state lawmakers are considering legislation to allow doctors and others to apologize without having the apology held against them in civil court.
A bill drafted by the Kansas Judicial Council's civil code committee would prohibit an "expression of apology, sympathy, commiseration or condolence" from being used in court as an admission of liability.
"There is a cathartic effect to everyone to feel that I was done wrong and the person who has done me wrong recognizes they've done me wrong," Nick Badgerow, an Overland Park attorney who chairs the civil code committee, told lawmakers last week.
The reverse also tends to be true: When doctors or hospital administrators stonewall and won't say they are sorry, it angers patients and makes them feel as if they've been wronged a second time.
Jon Rosell, executive director of the Medical Society of Sedgwick County, told The Eagle editorial board that doctors are sorry when something goes wrong and want to say so, but that because of lawsuit fears, it often is "easier to be quiet." Doing so, he said, isn't helpful and makes patients think their doctors don't care.
Thirty-five states have laws that protect doctors when they say they're sorry. Anecdotal evidence indicates that such protections reduce lawsuits.
And according to the Physician Insurers Association of America, each lawsuit that goes to court costs an average $100,000 — so reducing that number could play a part in curbing health care costs.
Some federal liability reform also is needed to reduce lawsuit costs. It also could help reduce the practice of defensive medicine, in which doctors order tests or procedures not because they think the patients really need them, but because the doctors are protecting themselves from possible lawsuits.
But Doug Wojcieszak, founder of the Sorry Works Coalition based in Illinois, contends that the reason many patients and their families sue is that they want honest answers and explanations. The change that's really needed, he said, is for health systems to investigate problems and acknowledge when there are mistakes.
"This honest and candid approach dramatically reduces anger experienced by patients and families and, in most instances, removes the urge to pursue litigation," Wojcieszak said.
But because many doctors and hospitals are afraid to go that far and admit mistakes, a good first step would be allowing them to express sympathy without it being used against them.
The more doctors say, "I'm sorry," the less patients will say, "See you in court."
