Medical error and disclosure – A view from the U.K.

Whilst the steps for reacting to and communicating following a surgical error should be clear to all, actual practice is punctuated by a range of failures which lead to the harm done by the error being compounded by inadequacies in the disclosure and subsequent processes. This article outlines best practice at the current time within the United Kingdom when responding to a surgical error and it also reports the type of behaviours which result in poor levels of satisfaction from the patients' perspective – often resulting in litigation being invoked.