Practicing medicine is truly an art but the push by HMO/short office visits, evidence-based research/one-size-fits-all treatment, & pharmaceutical companies and attorneys trying to make maney have left practitioners relying way too much on tests and less on developing a relationship with and listening to their patients. I can forgive a physician who has made a mistake with my care, admits the mistake and learns from it. It’s harder to forgive when the physician hasn’t listened to me, comes across as arrogant, and refuses to acknowledge their limitations. I want a solid patient-doctor relationship with my physician and I’m willing to put forth the effort to make this happen but I expect the same from my doctor. I think many docs struggle on how to do this with their patients. The research I’ve seen has found that malpractice suits are much fewer when the patient has had an effective relationship with their doctor.

In regards to trusting patients, that all sounds good and fine but not all patients are reliable when it comes to their ability to tell the doctor what they are feeling or experiencing.

This argument can go around in circles forever. Being too cautious is just as bad as not being cautious enough. Where does one draw the line to determine who gets sued? How does one determine the right level of cautiousness?

Too many state medical societies protect the bad docs & even good docs protect bad ones bc ama intimidates docs from testifying agn bad docs.

If u are overcautious, not trusting ur pt & ordering dopey tests then u are not really practicing medicine. You are doing ur pts a disservice. Shame on u

Defensive practice can be found in all industries. Look at all the disclaimers warning us that the coffee is hot or the knife is sharp or taking to much of this drug is bad for you. Why should the medical field be any different? Regardless of whether you think it is valid or not people in the medical field, hospitals, nurses, not just doctors practice defensive medicine.

With all due respect, any doctor who loses his professional judgment and stops treating the patient as an individual (but instead makes all of his medical decisions based on a obsessive fear of being sued) should get out of clinical practice. Period. Return to medical research. Get a job at McDonalds. Anything but working with patients. Unnecessary fear and being over cautious makes you more than a dopey physician – it makes you a dangerous physician bc you are no longer really practicing medicine.

If the physician puts his or her fear of being sued over the best interests of the patient then the physician should certainly refer the patient out.

Grow up doctors. You allow attorneys to effect your practice of medicine and now you are on the verge of letting Obama Care take over your practices . . . all bc you are perceived as weaker than you really are.

Good grief.

He got a referral from his family practice physician to a surgeon and anesthesiologist. The doctors do all the workups needed pre-surgery, and the guy unfortunately dies on the operating table due to a large bloodclot that apparently dislodged elsewhere from his body.

The survivors not only sued the anesthesiologist and surgeon, but also went after the family practice doctor for recommending the surgeon/anesthesiologist.

I live in KY…we don’t have a major amount of physicians here because it is so easy to sue them.

I think the current state of malpractice is just a mess, and needs to reformed…and I agree that it only should be possible in cases of obviously gross negligence such as your example of wrong surgery sites and such.