| Abstract: | Health care benevolence laws, a form of tort reform law, mandate statements of sympathy or apology by health care providers and facilities in cases of medical mistakes. These laws create a shared language and sense of meaning for individuals involved in the legal aftermath of medical mistakes. Structuration theory guides this textual analysis to explore how benevolence laws discursively create and structure shared meaning about apology. This analysis highlights how benevolence laws structure apology and discursively discipline medical practitioners, underscoring the importance of ambiguity in law interpretation. |
