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Seeking Common Ground

Peter P. Budetti, MD, JD

JAMA. 2005;293:2660-2662.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

According to Sage,¹ "doctors hate malpractice suits . . . passionately and continuously. . . . Eliminating malpractice suits takes precedence over every other political objective. . . . No contradictory belief, however well-reasoned, empirically based, or sincerely held, succeeds in crowding out antipathy toward malpractice from physicians’ minds. Not the large number of patients who die unnecessarily each year from medical errors; not the desirability of allowing patients to sue [health maintenance organizations] HMOs for improper care."

Sage’s vivid depiction of the profession’s bilious antagonism toward medical malpractice provides important context for drawing lessons from 2 articles in this issue of JAMA that explore the behavior of physicians in specialties that pay the highest malpractice insurance premiums and have the greatest risk of being sued. The study by Studdert et al² reveals the extraordinary extent to which physicians report going against their own clinical judgment in the hope of minimizing their malpractice exposure. The study . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliation: Department of Health Administration and Policy, College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City.

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