Attributions and Apologies in Letters of Complaint to Hospitals and Letters of Response

Abstract

Formal complaints against hospitals (in common with formal complaints in most areas) are typically made in letters, and the response to the complainant is typically a letter back. A complaint file, therefore, does not merely contain a record of the complaint: it contains the complaint itself. From the complainant’s perspective, the files contain the essence of the story. The process of complaining, from the complainant’s perspective, consists in that exchange of letters. The complainant’s letter is his or her complaint. The letter back to the complainant is, very often, all the complainant gets.