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The Canadian Press

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CHARLOTTETOWN - The Liberal government of Prince Edward Island has introduced legislation that would allow physicians and other health-care workers to apologize for medical mistakes without the fear of legal reprisals.

Keith Dewar, the deputy minister of health, said the changes would allow health-care professionals to feel more comfortable about discussing medical mistakes without having to fear their words would result in a lawsuit.

"Now the facts are the facts and they can still be used in courts, as they should be," Dewar said Thursday.

"But you can't use that apology as an admission to guilt."

Dewar said the legislative changes would improve the delivery of health care.

"This all allows our work to continue and for us to get better at our work because it allows us to start talking about things that might have gone wrong," Dewar said.

"Currently, without this legislation, most people don't want to talk about it."

If the legislation is passed, P.E.I. would be the seventh province with some form of so-called apology legislation.