What can we learn from the Tiger Wood?

The front page of the Straits Times today carried a feature about Tiger Wood taking time off golf to heal his family relationship.  I had been away from Singapore for the last 10 days visiting my ancestral home in Hainan Island and have not kept up with news.  Before leaving on my trip, I remembered the news about his driving incident and the world was buzzing about why it happened.

I read the news with a tinge of disappointment.  I asked myself why would a man with such success come to possible ruin due to such foolish judgement and actions?  I remembered too that when the news broke, he vehemently denied any marital problems and extra-marital relationships.  But, now he confirmed the problems.

Tiger Wood is a brand name - some may even say an "organisation" unto itself, with "revenues" of over US$100 per year in terms of sports endorsement.  Fans, perhaps expected him to be more transparent when the news broke, and through their loyalty, forgive him.  Because he denied and later confirmed the problems, his following may take a beating and could take time for him to recover.

On the same day, Salma Khalik wrote an article asking healthcare institutions to be more transparent about their mistakes so that individually and collectively as a system we can improve.  I agree.  Taking reference from the Tiger Wood "fiasco" (even though direct comparison is incompatible), transparency and sincerity about the mistakes we make would be key to patient (or fan) confidence.  Particularly in healthcare where there is information asymmetry, transparency becomes even more important.  Patients rely on healthcare professionals to "do the right thing for them" because many times they don't know better.  Healthcare institutions should honour that trust by being forthright when things go wrong, apologise with sincerity, and do their best to "make it right" to the patient.  The recent chemotherapy incident at KKH provided an excellent example in this regard.  Not surprisingly, the patients and families involved in the incident have been forgiving.

To err is human, to forgive divine.  For forgiveness to take place when mistakes happen, transparency and sincerity seems to be 2 key ingredients for individuals and organisations to put into action quickly.  Doing the right thing will always be the right thing to do.