In 1986 Massachusetts passed the first state apology law. A former state senator’s daughter had been killed in a car accident, and the driver never apologized. He had wanted to, but dared not. By 2014, 37 states had such laws, which generally keep an expression of sympathy from being used as evidence of liability.
In 2001 the University of Michigan health system began disclosing medical errors to patients and offering compensation. New claims dropped sharply. The time to settle fell from twenty months to six.