Iowa doctors need not fear a lawsuit for saying they’re sorry when something goes wrong. Governor Tom Vilsack has signed a bill into law that lets doctors, nurses and other health care professionals express sympathy to a patient or the patient’s family about the outcome of a medical procedure without having that conversation used against them in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Those who backed the bill say it will help doctors talk more freely with patients and families if something goes wrong. The governor also a approved a new law that makes it a crime to leave the scene of a boating accident. The law was drafted after a fatal hit-and-run accident at Lake Okoboji highlighted the lack of a state law to prosecute hit-and-run boaters. For production purposes, here’s the band Chicago singing “It’s Hard for Me to Say I’m Sorry.”