CANDOR

Even under the best of circumstances, there are times when a patient experiences an unanticipated health outcome. Open communication between physicians and their patients is the foundation of a sustainable physician-patient relationship.

When an unanticipated outcome occurs, physicians should be able to clearly communicate with the patient exactly what occurred and what steps will be taken to try to make that patient whole once more, without the fear that doing so exposes them to additional civil liability.

To facilitate these conversations, IMS, in conjunction with the Iowa Association for Justice, developed the Candor legislation (see under the Documents tab below) that unanimously passed both chambers of the Iowa General Assembly and was signed into law on April 14, 2015.

Expansions to the Candor statute were signed into law on May 5, 2017. IMS has developed a series of educational materials to assist Iowa physicians in putting this new liability protection to work in their clinics.