The medical errors cases have drawn attention since the 1999 report of the Institute of Medicine. However, the open discussion of mistakes has been mostly confined to weekly conferences and the complete disclosure to patients has not been as universally practiced. Evidence suggests that the best way to handle health care errors is to disclose them fully to patients. But, disclosing surgical errors are associated with several pros and cons like a disclosure could potentially strengthen the patient-doctor relationship.
However, strengthening the patient-doctor relationship is not a possibility after the patient’s demise. According to you, what are the pros and cons of disclosing surgical errors to the patients? Should they always be disclosed to the patient?
