A different approach to malpractice?

A couple of years ago I met a couple from the UK while on vacation. They were both doctors. In one of our conversations we discussed American healthcare. One of them made a joke that it was a good thing he was not practicing in the U.S. because he would have been sued for malpractice at least six times! And his wife indicated her situation to be similar! This couple was still pretty young, I remember being glad I was not being treated by doctors in the UK! However, later I realized that malpractice is probably an equally big issue here in the states and that maybe the only difference lies in disclosure.
After reading the March 2003 article in TIME, “When M.D.s Mess Up” (attached), I began to wonder what would happen if doctors were trained more rigorously in how to apologize for their mistakes. This article in particular talks about this issue—why doctors don’t disclose their mistakes to patients? And what happens when they do? Two interesting statistics are presented: 1.) “76% of doctors surveyed said that they had not fully disclosed a serious error to one of their patients” and 2.) Only 30% of patients surveyed said they had been informed when effected by a medical error. The major reason doctors gave for their lack of communication is obviously the fear of being sued. The article ends pretty much by saying the situation is irreconcilable, but the best thing you can do is ask questions. That brings up two more questions: 1.) Is the issue really irreconcilable? and 2.) As a patient, how do you know what questions to ask? I have run into this problem in the past. I wanted to make sure that a doctor was right for me, but I realized that the questions I was asking were not really getting to the point. In class we have talked a lot about science literacy, but when it comes to health care, the level and type of literacy required really varies. The Internet has become a great resource for patients, but I have learned that it does not have all the answers.
When you start dealing with your health a situation easily becomes emotionally charged, however, personally I would much rather a doctor give me the strait story and show sincere interest in helping me to solve my medical problem. Last summer I met a med student at a friend’s wedding. Somehow, I started telling her about some health problems my dad was having and how doctors did not seem to be helping him. Something she said really stuck with me. She explained how a often times illnesses on paper or even under a microscope don’t look like they do in the textbook. Bacteria, viruses, diseases, and the like are constantly mutating. Sometimes, she said, you have a “zebra” case, where different conditions mix together creating a different set of symptoms. Until then, I hadn’t realized how difficult being a doctor was. I always just thought there was just a long list of possibilities and they had to be really good at the matching game, but this makes it much harder to diagnose a patient with any real certainty. I wonder how other people would respond to this bit of insight. It seems beneficial for doctors to come together and start a health campaign all their own. A campaign that makes clear doctors' intentions vs. the challenges they face in their careers.