Ethical and Practical Aspects of Disclosing Adverse Events in the Emergency Department

Disclosure is difficult in any field of medicine. Environmental factors in the ED that make disclosure even more difficult are the same factors that make a well-conducted disclosure paramount. Communicating an adverse event clearly to the patient or family is in line with the ethical duty to disclose, maintains patient trust, enables patient safety improvements, and may even help avoid a lawsuit. Learning how to disclose and communicate effectively with patients will help make full disclosure more commonplace.