Under Promise & Over Deliver: Why Patients Sue Doctors

Interesting reading from the Law & Medicine section of SoundPractice.net.

A couple of my favorite quotes from the post:

Physicians are perceived by the public as over-promising and under-delivering when it comes to health care. Perhaps part of the problem is that we have been so successful at treating some acute conditions, that patients live long enough to suffer from the chronic conditions that we do not treat as effectively.

I think part of the cause of malpractice is the public's need to believe in their doctors, and their disappointment when bad things happen. The lack of transparency and communication between physicians and patients only adds to the size of the gap that devastates the family when outcomes are poor.

Thanks to Doulicia who is editor for Grand Rounds this week for pointing out this post and the information available at SoundPractice.net.