Disclosing Medical Errors to Patients: Overcoming the Challenge in Clinical Communication

Abstract

Summary: Ethical and professional guidelines obligate doctors to disclose medical errors to patients when they occur. But very few doctors are divulging their own errors, especially in a very paternalistic doctor-patient relationship witnessed in sub-Saharan Africa where the prevalence of medical errors is unknown due to absence of error reporting and disclosing mechanisms. Doctors are not disclosing their errors because of perceived consequences when they do and the lack of disclosure skills that is not taught at all stages of the educational system including the postgraduate level. However, patients want to know and be told when things go wrong.
This article looks at the barriers to disclosure of medical errors, the benefits of disclosure for both the doctor and patient, and how doctors can begin disclosing errors based on current literature.