Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations

Apologising has always been viewed as an important social conduct that allows for closure in disputes. The aftermath of disputes and conflicts are usually fuelled with feelings of anger, injustice, mistrust and a tendency to sue. Apologies can be made through statements of regret and empathy, accept...

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Main Authors:	Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie, Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan, Mohamed, Duryana
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Lexis Nexis 2019
Subjects:	K Law (General)
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/76903/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/76903/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/76903/1/76903_Medical%20Apology%20at%20a%20Crossroad.pdf

id	iium-76903
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-769032020-01-08T07:24:46Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/76903/ Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan Mohamed, Duryana K Law (General) Apologising has always been viewed as an important social conduct that allows for closure in disputes. The aftermath of disputes and conflicts are usually fuelled with feelings of anger, injustice, mistrust and a tendency to sue. Apologies can be made through statements of regret and empathy, acceptance of responsibility as well as proper explanation of the events leading to the mishap, hence, the severity of the aftermath situations can be significantly reduced. Further, studies have shown that apologising after a medical mishap can also be effective in a dispute resolution mechanism by healing and preserving relationships as well as triggering settlement negotiations. However, medical practitioners are rather hesitant to apologise after the occurrence of adverse events fearing that this may be treated as an ‘admission of guilt’ and any statements made at this point may be admissible in judicial proceedings as evidence of fault or liability. In Malaysia, the adverse effect of ‘medical apology’, became apparent from the outcome of two medical negligence cases, namely, Gurmit Kaur a/p Jaswant Singh v Tung Shin Hospital & Anor[2012] 4 MLJ 260; [2013] 1 CLJ 699 and Norizan bt Abd Rahman v Dr Arthur Samuel [2013] 9 MLJ 385. In both of these cases, the apology given by the medical practitioners was construed as admissions of guilt and used in establishing liability. Thus, the negative implications of apology needs to be addressed in Malaysia so as to preserve the immense benefits of apology, particularly, in medical negligence disputes. Lessons can be learned from several jurisdictions around the globe that have enacted ‘Apology Laws’ to explicitly preclude ‘medical apologies’ made after adverse events from being treated as admission of fault or as evidence to prove liability. This has been considered beneficial in preserving the effectiveness of apologies within the parameters of a protective legislation. Lexis Nexis 2019-12-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/76903/1/76903_Medical%20Apology%20at%20a%20Crossroad.pdf Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie and Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan and Mohamed, Duryana (2019) Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations. Malayan Law Journal, 6. 1xxxi-ciii. http://www.lexisnexis.com.my/en-my/products/malayan-law-journal.page
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) Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan Mohamed, Duryana Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations
description	Apologising has always been viewed as an important social conduct that allows for closure in disputes. The aftermath of disputes and conflicts are usually fuelled with feelings of anger, injustice, mistrust and a tendency to sue. Apologies can be made through statements of regret and empathy, acceptance of responsibility as well as proper explanation of the events leading to the mishap, hence, the severity of the aftermath situations can be significantly reduced. Further, studies have shown that apologising after a medical mishap can also be effective in a dispute resolution mechanism by healing and preserving relationships as well as triggering settlement negotiations. However, medical practitioners are rather hesitant to apologise after the occurrence of adverse events fearing that this may be treated as an ‘admission of guilt’ and any statements made at this point may be admissible in judicial proceedings as evidence of fault or liability. In Malaysia, the adverse effect of ‘medical apology’, became apparent from the outcome of two medical negligence cases, namely, Gurmit Kaur a/p Jaswant Singh v Tung Shin Hospital & Anor[2012] 4 MLJ 260; [2013] 1 CLJ 699 and Norizan bt Abd Rahman v Dr Arthur Samuel [2013] 9 MLJ 385. In both of these cases, the apology given by the medical practitioners was construed as admissions of guilt and used in establishing liability. Thus, the negative implications of apology needs to be addressed in Malaysia so as to preserve the immense benefits of apology, particularly, in medical negligence disputes. Lessons can be learned from several jurisdictions around the globe that have enacted ‘Apology Laws’ to explicitly preclude ‘medical apologies’ made after adverse events from being treated as admission of fault or as evidence to prove liability. This has been considered beneficial in preserving the effectiveness of apologies within the parameters of a protective legislation.
format	Article
author	Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan Mohamed, Duryana
author_facet	Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie Saleh, Muhammad Ridhwan Mohamed, Duryana
author_sort	Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie
title	Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations
title_short	Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations
title_full	Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations
title_fullStr	Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations
title_full_unstemmed	Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations
title_sort	medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations
publisher	Lexis Nexis
publishDate	2019
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/76903/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/76903/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/76903/1/76903_Medical%20Apology%20at%20a%20Crossroad.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T21:48:36Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T21:48:36Z
_version_	1777413617599119360

Medical apology at a crossroad: a need for the enactment of apology legislations

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