Our client, Silverton Health is a hospital system in Silverton, Oregon. When you think of hospitals it’s not long before lawsuits come to mind. Quality care shows glaring mistakes by contrast. Just this week Silverton had to admit that a mistake in maintenance procedures caused many people to be exposed to potential skin burns. Filters were not replaced on halogen lamps in the operating rooms of the system. Admitting this opened them up to potential litigation. Instead of covering it up, Silverton did the right thing and admitted the mistake openly in the press. They also took steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again—without firing a single person. In this age of the 24 hour news cycle and Monday morning punditry, Silverton went the way of leadership instead of fear. We give kudos to our client—especially the way it was managed with the press by the executive team. Doing good is good. Below is a quote from a recent Salem Statesman article on this subject.
Research has shown that hospitals that take part in early disclosure and communication when bad things happen actually do experience a decrease in litigation.
So, doing the right think, owning up to your mistakes and acting human instead of like a corporate behemoth is a good thing. Who knew?