In the medical field, it’s normal for hospitals and administrators to tell their doctors and staff not to apologize for mistakes when they speak with patients. This is because admitting that they were negligent or made a mistake could be perceived as an admission of wrongdoing and lead to a lawsuit.
Interestingly, some studies have shown that having doctors or staff members apologize may help reduce the number of lawsuits these individuals face, because they’re willing to admit they were wrong and take steps to correct the issues.
Although that is the case, there are some times when making mistakes is inexcusable. There are times when being irresponsible leads to serious injuries or deaths that could have been avoided.
Should you sue if your doctor apologizes?
There are lots of factors that go into deciding if you should sue following an injury that resulted from medical malpractice. Some of those factors include:
- If the medical provider apologized
- If the medical provider is willing to correct the problem
- If you’ve had any financial losses
- If you have lasting complications from the error
Most people understand that doctors are human and can make mistakes, but egregious errors, like forgetting about a patient or cutting into the wrong side of the body during a surgery, have to be addressed. If a medical provider isn’t willing to make the situation right (free of charge) or even to discuss what went wrong, then it may be time to a patient to start looking into their legal options.
When should you file a medical malpractice lawsuit?
There are all kinds of factors that will go into your decision to sue. If you find that the medical provider is not willing to discuss what went wrong or that the person is not willing to try to make things right, you may want to consider a claim. Similarly, if you have lasting complications or there is no way to correct what went wrong as a result of negligence or reckless acts, then a medical malpractice lawsuit may be the right answer for you. Your attorney will talk to you about the specifics of your case to help you decide if a lawsuit is right for your situation.