PRACTICE PARTNER
D
espite best efforts, patients
may incur harm during
the delivery of health care.
Harm is not always preventable
nor is it necessarily an indicator of
substandard care.
But when harm does occur, a patient
must be told of it.
Although disclosure is difficult to
do, it is required by law. It is also a
College expectation of professionalism. Moreover, it may help prevent the recurrence of unintended
outcomes and promote a culture
of patient safety, which reinforces
public trust in the profession and
the health-care system.
Research suggests that prompt
disclosure may lessen the risk of the
physician being sued for the harm,
and that patients are often more
forgiving if the physician is forthcoming with them.
As we make clear in our Disclosure
of Harm policy (www.cpso.on.ca/
Policies-Publications/Policy/
Disclosure-of-Harm), the objective
of disclosure is not the attribution
of blam