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69 Drake L. Rev. Discourse 101 (2020)

handle is hein.journals/dralours69 and id is 1 raw text is: Bulvcr 1 3 202(11:21 PM SHOULD DOCTORS BE ALLOWED TO APOLOGIZE?: A CLOSER LOOK AT MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWS ABSTRACT Saying I'm sorry is easy for a five-year-old child, but in the professional world, it is the last thing most physicians would think of saying. A simple apology has different implications within the world of professionals. While we ingrain social niceties into boys and girls throughout childhood, those niceties fall by the wayside as we grow into productive members of society. Psychologists and sociologists have no doubt hypothesized the reasoning behind how our society changes as we age. Yet, regardless of the reasoning, state and federal laws can be changed to integrate apologies back into the world of professionals. Apologies have the power to heal individuals emotionally and mentally, and studies have shown apologizing can have a wide range of positive implications for patients, physicians, and society at large. However, apologies are often discouraged by those in the legal profession. Fortunately, there has been a recent movement throughout state legislatures to protect physicians for expressing regret or empathy to patients who experience some kind of negative result. This Note reviews the differing state and federal apology laws, the impact they have already had, and how they can further change interactions within the medical profession. TABLE OF CONTENTS A b stract ............................................................................................................. 10 1 T able of C ontents ............................................................................................. 101 I. Introduction ........................................................................................... 102 II. A n Overview of A pology Laws ........................................................... 103 A . The Federal Rules of Evidence .................................................... 104 B . State R egulations ........................................................................... 106 1. M assachusetts ........................................................................... 106 2. State Review of Apology Statutes ......................................... 107 3 . Io w a ........................................................................................... 110 C. The Need to Amend the Federal Rules of Evidence ................ 113 III. Apology Laws: Do We Need Them? .................................................. 114 A . Benefits to Protecting A pologies ................................................. 114 1. Preventing Litigation ............................................................... 115 2. Encouraging Settlement Discussions ..................................... 115 3. Judicial E fficacy ........................................................................ 116 B. Drawbacks of Protecting Apologies ............................................ 116 Bulvcr 1/3/2020 1:21 PM

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