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Legal aspects of open disclosure II: attitudes of health professionals — findings from a national survey

Julian L Rait and Elizabeth H Van Ekert
Med J Aust 2011; 194 (1): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2011.tb04148.x
Published online: 3 January 2011

To the Editor: It is regrettable that research published by Studdert and colleagues suggests that barriers remain to the open disclosure of medical error in Australia.1 Although all states have enacted legislation to protect defendants who apologise to plaintiffs, such protection is variable and inconsistent across Australia.2 Most significantly, the definition of what constitutes an apology varies greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, as do the various protections afforded to the apology. Unfortunately, this only serves to complicate what should be an open and candid discussion of the circumstances surrounding a medical error.


  • 1 MDA National, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 2 MDA National, Sydney, NSW.


Correspondence: jrait@mdanational.com.au

  • 1. Studdert DM, Piper D, Iedema R. Legal aspects of open disclosure II: attitudes of health professionals — findings from a national survey. Med J Aust 2010; 193: 351-355. <MJA full text>
  • 2. Vines P. Apologising to avoid liability: cynical civility or practical morality? Sydney Law Rev 2005; 27: 483-505.
  • 3. Wu AW. Medical error: the second victim. The doctor who makes the mistake needs help too. BMJ 2000; 320: 726-727.
  • 4. Allred KG. Anger and retaliation in conflict: the role of attribution. In: Deutsch M, Coleman PT, editors. The handbook of conflict resolution: theory and practice. San Francisico: Jossey-Bass, 2000: 236-255.
  • 5. Banja J. Medical errors and medical narcissism. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett, 2005: 33-34.
  • 6. Studdert DM, Mello MM, Gawande A, et al. Disclosure of medical injury to patients: an improbable risk management strategy. Health Aff (Millwood) 2007; 26: 215-226.

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