Isn’t it time to untie the Gordian knot?
Simon M. Helfgott, MD, is associate professor of medicine in the division of rheumatology, immunology and allergy at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
References
- Nash L, Daly M, Johnson M, et al. Psychological morbidity in Australian doctors who have and have not experienced a medico-legal matter: Cross-sectional survey. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2007 Nov;41(11):917–925.
- Burns CR. Malpractice suits in American medicine before the Civil War. In Burns CR, ed. Legacies in Ethics and Medicine. New York: Science History Publications, 1977:107–122.
- Mohr JC. American medical malpractice litigation in historical perspective. JAMA. 2000 Apr 5;283(13):1731–1737.
- Annas GJ. Doctors, patients, and lawyers—two centuries of health law. N Engl J Med. 2012 Aug 2;367(5):445–450.
- Seabury SA, Chandra A, Lakdawalla DN, et al. On average, physicians spend nearly 11 percent of their 40-year careers with an open, unresolved malpractice claim. Health Affairs. 2012;32(1):111–119.