Harnessing the power of apology

In her article “The power of apology”, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, Marie Bismark quotes the experience of a United States family whose otherwise healthy 11-year-old son was hospitalised for a seemingly trivial swollen ankle. Eventually surgery was undertaken “to incise and drain the swollen ankle”. By early the next morning, the boy was dead. The article was based on a Humanity in Healthcare Lecture at the Centre for Compassion in Healthcare, Waitakere Hospital, Auckland, given by the author in February 2009. At the time, Ms Bismark was a Senior Associate, Health Law, at Buddle Findlay in Wellington.