Many states, including Washington, have passed laws that allow a doctor to apologize to a patient about a mistake that was made, and the apology cannot be admitted into evidence if the doctor is later sued for malpractice. Washington’s law, at RCW 5.64.010, provides that if the apology (or offer to pay expenses caused by the injury) is made within thirty days of the act or omission of claimed professional negligence, it cannot be admitted into evidence.

The purpose of the laws is to encourage doctors to communicate directly and openly with patients when there is a bad outcome and express their feelings about what happened, rather than avoiding contact with the patient or family. Some studies in the past had indicated that this reduced the number of malpractice claims.

But a recent study, conducted by Vanderbilt University researchers, found that the laws are ineffective and, in some instances, may result in a greater probability that some doctors would be sued. The study used eight years of data from a major national malpractice insurer, and concluded that non-surgical physicians were more likely to be sued in states where the “apology” statutes are in effect, and that lawsuit rates for surgeons were unaffected by the laws.

The overall conclusion of the study was that “the evidence suggests that apology laws do not effectively limit medical malpractice liability risk.” While the laws may have encouraged better communication between doctors and patients, they have not had the intended effect of reducing malpractice lawsuits.