Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting

An adverse consequence in medical treatments tends to cause patients and their families to be overwhelmed with anger, frustration, and desire to retaliate. ‘Apologies’ offered at this point of time tend to have remedial effects in reducing the anger and curbing the motivation to bring matters to the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan, Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	The World Association for Medical Law 2017
Subjects:	K Law (General)
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/57992/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/57992/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/57992/1/Abstract%20in%20Journal%20Ridhwan%20PNemie.pdf

id	iium-57992
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-579922019-08-21T08:48:05Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/57992/ Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie K Law (General) An adverse consequence in medical treatments tends to cause patients and their families to be overwhelmed with anger, frustration, and desire to retaliate. ‘Apologies’ offered at this point of time tend to have remedial effects in reducing the anger and curbing the motivation to bring matters to the court of law. This will eventually reduce confrontational attitudes amongst the parties and the backlog of cases in the court of law. However, doctors are usually advised by their lawyers not to apologise due to the limitations imposed in their professional indemnity insurance whereby by apologising and admitting fault, it is considered as a breach of the terms in the insurance agreement. Further, the apology may be treated as ‘an admission of guilt’ during legal proceedings. In handling medical disputes in Malaysia, the benefits of apologizing are beyond doubt but in encouraging doctors to apologize, a clear legal framework need to be established to protect the apologies made in certain circumstances for unintentional wrongdoings. Lesson can be learnt from the American, Canadian and Australian experiences in drafting and implementing ‘Apology laws’ as well as making amendments to the law of evidence in their quest to resolve medical disputes in a more amicable manner. It is hoped that the establishment of a ‘structured apology law’ in Malaysia will reduce the number of medical negligence claims, defuse the spur of litigation and ultimately, preserve the sanctity of the relationship between the doctor and patient. The World Association for Medical Law 2017-06-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/57992/1/Abstract%20in%20Journal%20Ridhwan%20PNemie.pdf Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan and Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie (2017) Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting. Medicine and Law Journal, 36 (2). p. 277. ISSN 0723-1393 http://wafml.memberlodge.org/page-1150634
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	K Law (General)
spellingShingle	K Law (General) Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting
description	An adverse consequence in medical treatments tends to cause patients and their families to be overwhelmed with anger, frustration, and desire to retaliate. ‘Apologies’ offered at this point of time tend to have remedial effects in reducing the anger and curbing the motivation to bring matters to the court of law. This will eventually reduce confrontational attitudes amongst the parties and the backlog of cases in the court of law. However, doctors are usually advised by their lawyers not to apologise due to the limitations imposed in their professional indemnity insurance whereby by apologising and admitting fault, it is considered as a breach of the terms in the insurance agreement. Further, the apology may be treated as ‘an admission of guilt’ during legal proceedings. In handling medical disputes in Malaysia, the benefits of apologizing are beyond doubt but in encouraging doctors to apologize, a clear legal framework need to be established to protect the apologies made in certain circumstances for unintentional wrongdoings. Lesson can be learnt from the American, Canadian and Australian experiences in drafting and implementing ‘Apology laws’ as well as making amendments to the law of evidence in their quest to resolve medical disputes in a more amicable manner. It is hoped that the establishment of a ‘structured apology law’ in Malaysia will reduce the number of medical negligence claims, defuse the spur of litigation and ultimately, preserve the sanctity of the relationship between the doctor and patient.
format	Article
author	Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie
author_facet	Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie
author_sort	Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan
title	Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting
title_short	Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting
title_full	Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting
title_fullStr	Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting
title_full_unstemmed	Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting
title_sort	towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘apologies’in the malaysian healthcare setting
publisher	The World Association for Medical Law
publishDate	2017
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/57992/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/57992/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/57992/1/Abstract%20in%20Journal%20Ridhwan%20PNemie.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T21:21:59Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T21:21:59Z
_version_	1777411942640517120

Towards a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of ‘Apologies’in the Malaysian healthcare setting

Similar Items