Apology in Medical Practice: An Emerging Clinical Skill

The idea that physicians should make full disclosure of medical errors to their patients has grown in importance since the late 1980s and early 1990s. This movement gained momentum following the 1999 Institute of Medicine report, To Err Is Human,¹ an indepth study of the extent of medical errors, and the 2001 Safety Standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations on disclosure of patient harm.²