Disclosing Medical Errors, How Soon The Patient And Family Member Should Be Informed Who Should - Article Example

Disclosing Medical Errors Insert Insert Disclosing medical Errors A medical error is a failure or inability of a planned course of action to be addressed as intended or using the wrong plan to accomplish the aim, but devoid of intentional or reckless actions that may harm the patients (NCC MERP, n.d). This paper discusses medical errors, who should be informed and how soon the patient and family members should be informed. Experts have highly encouraged professional disclosure of medical errors whenever they occur.

Globally it is said that error is human, but it raises the question whether the cliché covers such critical group of professionals or whether the errors that have been made so far are insignificant for other physicians to learn from them. Currently, there is no consensus on modalities and processes of reporting near misses. Patients require information on medical errors from an ethical standpoint so as to make informed decisions about subsequent treatments (Gallagher, 2007, pp. 2713-2719). The greatest bottleneck to free disclosure of medical errors is the fear of increasing malpractice claims on the medical fraternity as well as vulnerability to medico-legal action.

Disclosing such errors to patients themselves by the physicians may be perceived as the most straight forward affair in the making but is rather a challenging task. It raises fears of what one would expect in the following times (Wagner, 2012, pp. 63-69). The fear of going through such ordeal might make one feel less obliged to seek medical attention, and the "I’d rather not be told" sentiment from patients reveals less reacceptance of such errors. Many medical scholars have thus advocated for disclosure of such errors to family and not patients as this might predispose patients to sadness, anxiety, depression and trauma.

The desired recuperation for patients might be delayed. Family members, therefore, encourage knowledge of what transpired, the consequences of an error on their health, the reasons for it happening, mitigation of such malfunctions, and the proper measures for the prevention of such errors in the future. Such reporting should also be timely as soon as such error is committed and noted as a possible point of professional malfunction by the physician. The family members are required to take the necessary course of action since they hold responsibility and reaction in trust of the patient (Garbutt, 2007, pp. 179-185).ReferencesGallagher, T. H., Studdert, D.

, & Levinson, W. (2007). Disclosing Harmful Medical Errors To Patients. New England Journal of Medicine, 356(26), 2713-2719. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra070568Garbutt, J., Fraser, V., Dunagan, W. C., Hazel, E., Marcuse, E. K., Krauss, M. J., et al. (2007). Reporting and Disclosing Medical Errors: Pediatricians Attitudes and Behaviors. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 161(2), 179-185. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.161.2.

179NCC MERP -- About Medication Errors. (n.d.). NCC MERP -- About Medication Errors. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://www.nccmerp.org/aboutMedErrors.htmlWagner, L. M., Harkness, K., Hébert, P. C., & Gallagher, T. H. (2012). Nursesʼ Perceptions of Error Reporting and Disclosure in Nursing Homes. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 27(1), 63-69. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0b013e318232c0bc