Why it pays to front up and apologize when necessary
Colorado Surgeon Michael Woods found himself being sued for malpractice when a medical student accidentally punctured an artery during an appendectomy. In the end, the appendix was successfully removed, but there were complications and the patient became upset.
Woods took advice from his lawyer who recommended - no response and no interaction between him and the patient.
In court, when the patient was asked why she had chosen to sue she said, “I sued because he acted like what happened to me was no big deal. He just didn’t care.”
Woods realized it wasn’t the injury or the outcome that had led to the lawsuit — it was her perception that he didn’t care. It was his failure to offer a sincere apology that caused the suit.
In his insightful book Healing Words: The Power of Apology in Medicine Woods says,
“The business world has internalized a truth that medicine has yet to discover and embrace. Apology isn’t about money, or being right or wrong - for either the buyer (patient) or the vendor (doctor). It’s about the provider showing respect, empathy, and a commitment to patient satisfaction; and then about those receiving the apology having the grace to see the provider as human and fallible — and worthy of forgiveness.”
Since 2002, hospitals in the University of Michigan Health System have been pushing their doctors to apologize. Their attorney legal fees have dropped by two-thirds and the number of malpractice suits have halved.
Sincere apologies lower emotional temperatures and establish the foundations for a positive, constructive re-engagement.
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posted in Big Ego, Negotiation Mistakes, Perception | 0 Comments
