Dianne Meyer stands Tuesday on artificial legs in the backyard of her Summerlin home. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Words can't bring back Dianne Meyer's legs, nor her ability to do the jitterbug.

But when she awoke from a coma in November 2000 after seeking medical treatment at a local hospital for abdominal pain, some answers about why her legs were amputated and apologies from her health care providers might have eased some of the pain.

"We are all human beings, and we make mistakes,'' Meyer said Tuesday after learning of Senate Bill 174, which would allow Nevada physicians and health care providers to apologize or express sympathy for wrongdoing but not have that used against them in court.

The bill will be heard today by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"When you wake up from a coma and have lost both of your legs, you want real answers. You don't want to have to fight to get them,'' said Meyer, who worked as an usher at Cirque du Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio before she went into septic shock and had to be hospitalized.

"But the only way to get the truth is to turn to an attorney," she said.

That is because lawyers for physicians will advise doctors not only to not apologize but not to say anything about a case once a patient alleges a mistake has been made.

"That's not to say I still wouldn't have sued," Meyer said, "but apologizing would have helped.''

Dr. Ronald Kline said physicians or health care providers are hesitant to offer even words of comfort if patients don't get better, even if the caretaker has done nothing wrong.

He recalled the case of a pediatric oncologist worried about offering sympathy to the parents of a child whose tumor had reappeared, because the doctor was afraid of how it would be interpreted.

Gerald Gillock, a Las Vegas attorney who handles medical malpractice cases for injured people, said the legislation is not important.

Gillock, who handled Meyer's claim, said too many other issues are on the state legislators' plates.

"If a doctor is guilty, or in his own mind is guilty, of medical malpractice, he doesn't apologize,'' Gillock said. "There is no sentiment to the family. Secondly, if a doctor has committed an act of malpractice and the case goes forward, the very last question I would ask is whether or not he or she apologized.

"Juries today are so biased and so in favor of the doctors," he said, they will use an apology as another reason to find against plaintiffs.

But Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada State Medical Association, said cases such as Meyer's are reasons for the bill: to bridge the communication gap between physicians and patients, especially during adverse medical events.

Another reason is to try to reduce the number of medical malpractice cases in Nevada.

"That's part of the problem with medicine today,'' Matheis said. "There is just this lack of communication between the patient and the physician, and because of this communication gap, we have physicians practicing defensive medicine -- ordering those extra tests out of fear they might miss something. This has paralyzed medicine. When something bad happens, no one talks.''

Patterned after similar legislation in 29 other states, Senate Bill 174 says that an expression of apology or regret made by health care providers is inadmissible in any civil or administrative proceeding brought against them.

Sen. Joe Heck, R-Henderson, an emergency room physician, said that should a physician apologize and try to rectify the problem by providing additional medical care, whatever information provided to the patient or family can be used against the physician.

Heck said he did not know whether the bill was going to be challenged. He said that in some other states, lawyers argued that such a bill might limit the ability for a patient to bring a lawsuit.

Bill Bradley, a Reno-based personal injury lawyer and member of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, said the organization does not have a position on the bill.

"We're ... currently evaluating it to make sure that this bill holds the wrongdoers accountable and that victims of medical malpractice don't give up their rights,'' he said Tuesday afternoon.

Meyer, who reached a settlement with her health care provider out of court about two years ago, said she has no qualms with this bill if it does what it is intended to do: have doctors answer questions and provide help to those who are injured.

The 63-year-old lost her legs after she went into septic shock in November 2000. Septic shock is caused by an infection in the bloodstream.

Because of the conditions of her settlement, Meyer could not reveal whom she settled with or the amount of the settlement. According to District Court records, Meyer sued Summerlin Hospital Medical Center and a physician.

"Obviously, taking an apology from a doctor who has made an honest mistake is completely different from one who has shown complete negligence such as if they knew they made a mistake and waited hours before doing something about it,'' she said.