Health Advocacy: HAP 525: Health Care Ethics

When you make a mistake that affects a patient, what should you say? Should you apologize, or will that put you at greater risk of being sued? Lucian Leape, MD, Adjunct Professor of Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health, describes how to talk with patients and families after a mistake has occurred.

Linda Kenney went into the hospital for an ankle replacement. She came out with a host of complications resulting from a mistake that no one was willing to admit. Until Rick Van Pelt, MD, her anesthesiologist, stepped forward. In this three-part video case study, you’ll find out what happened in the immediate aftermath of the surgery, watch Kenney and Van Pelt describe their first meeting after the surgery, and watch Kathy Duncan, RN, and Don Berwick, MD, analyze the case.