PR pros have preached for years about the power of an apology. Example after example has proven that if you or your organization makes a mistake, saying “I’m sorry” goes a long way toward helping people forgive you, and causes the media to move on to the next story.

Now, the apology idea is getting new support from the health care industry. Lawyers have long advised doctors and hospitals to “deny and defend” when confronted with malpractice accusations, saying any hint of guilt or regret invites law suits. But now a few medical centers are going against common practices, and the results seem to show it’s working in their favor.

The New York Times says the University of Michigan Health System was one of the first to experiment with telling patients honestly about errors, sincerely apologizing, and offering fair compensation. Since starting the new policy, claims and lawsuits dropped to 83 in August 2007, down from 262 in August 2001.

Since the University of Illinois started the policy two years ago, the number of malpractice filings has dropped by half. In 37 cases where the hospital acknowledged a preventable error and apologized, only one patient filed a suit.

This supports what many have said about lawsuits in business as well. When people are honest and take responsibility for their mistakes, they help defuse the anger in the offended parties. When they don’t admit error or try to blame others, people are more intent on getting their “pound of flesh.”

The Jack in the Box story of 1993 is a good example of the fall out from passing the buck. 300 people became ill after eating E. coli infected hamburger at the company’s restaurants. A ten-year-old boy died. Company management waited almost a week before admitting its responsibility for the poisonings and expressing empathy to the victims. Even then, the Jack in the Box president blamed the company’s meat supplier. Crisis and litigation experts say their lawsuits from victims, shareholders, and franchisees went on longer and settled for more money because Jack in the Box tried to shift blame.

Bob Sutton, in his blog, cites other supporting research from business psychologists. Their results suggest that managers and leaders who take responsibility when things go wrong and communicate how they’ll change their actions as a result have better reputations that those who try to point fingers. Even more interesting, there’s also evidence their companies do better over the long term.

None of this evidence will change the mind of those stubborn CEOs and executives who just can’t admit they did something wrong. But for anyone on the fence, it’s hard to deny the power of those two little words.

I couldn’t be happier for him. Mr. Arrogance himself was revealed to be the uncaring bully that he is.

Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial, received an email from a desperate Countrywide customer asking for an adjustment to his mortgage terms. Mr. Sympathy, who pulled down $10.8 million dollars while his company lost $704 million, thought he was forwarding the email to a subordinate.

Commenting on the plea from the beleaguered homeowner, he called it “unbelievable” and “disgusting.” But instead of hitting “forward,” Mozilo hit “reply” so his comments went back to the sender.

The homeowner wasted no time in posting the email exchange on loansafe.org. The company issued a lame statement expressing regret over any misunderstanding caused by Mr. Mozilo’s inadvertent response.

Oh, I don’t think there was any misunderstanding at all.

I just read an article in a tech publication, CRN (Computer Reseller News), and discovered a new word in the English language. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it means and was unable to find it listed in any dictionary.

“We spent several months going back and forth, productizing this into something that will work,” said Barb Miller, vice president of government, technical and integration services at Tech Data.

What’s more amazing than the fact that she said this word is that the reporter actually used it and came up with the spelling! He must know something I don’t know.

I’m so excited… I just scanned nearly 200 press releases sent out over wire services today and found just two “excited” quotes!

• “We’re really excited about the launch of LaceLynx.”

• “We’re very excited to be bringing our ITIL(R) training courses to San Diego.”

Why is this noteworthy? Because in January, I wrote a post, Bad Press Releases Feature Ridiculous, Boring Quotes, in which I criticized the number of just plain bad quotes used in press releases, mainly ones in which someone was excited about something. That time, I easily found nearly two dozen examples in less than an hour.

Granted, in today’s releases some writers simply exchanged “excited” for other equally boring examples: four of those quoted were “honored,” three were “pleased,” and one was “proud.” (Why do these people have to be anything? Why can’t they just say something that adds to the story?)

And I still found plenty of jargon filled, non-conversational quotes which no normal human being would actually say:

“Recognizing the world-class standards for which Four Seasons is internationally renowned, KoolConnect sought to create a user interface that would extend both the elegance and sophistication of their brand onto the television. We trust that travelers to the Philadelphia area will not only enjoy an abundance of first-run HD studio releases, but will find immense benefit in the infotainment applications of Intrigue.”

But, still, I’m very pleased with today’s results, and honored and proud that maybe some press release writers took my advice.

That was the subject line of an email the Veterans Administration’s top mental-health official, Ira Katz, wrote about the alarming number of suicide attempts by veterans. The email went on to say that 12,000 vets try to commit suicide yearly, while the agency had reported publicly fewer than 800.

“Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it,” Katz’s email asks.

Ah, Ira, that would be a yes (public/media relations 101). Does anyone with a lick of knowledge about PR or a concern about doing the right thing work at the VA? If so, they aren’t being listened to by the unethical, uncaring, cover-your-ass administration at the agency.

Katz apologized for the “Shh!” subject line, saying it was an error. No, Ira, the real error was your knowing that our veterans are in such sorry shape that 12,000 of them felt that the only way out was ending their lives — knowing about it and not doing something about it. Knowing about it, and being more concerned about whether and how to hide it.

This an indefensible, unforgivable, criminal cover-up. Once again, I’m ashamed of our government.