Thanks to my wife and a lawyer who was always concerned about how I was doing emotionally, my story had a happy ending. I survived with my solo practice and my marriage intact. But I know that others have not been as lucky. Chemical dependency, divorce, poor productivity, and early retirement are just part of the underreported collateral damage that can come in the wake of a malpractice case, even one that is resolved with a relatively small financial cost.
Beyond the emotional cost, there is the staggering expense of defensive medicine. It has been going on for so long that many physicians practicing today don’t realize they are practicing defensive medicine because that’s the way they have been taught by several generations of gun-shy mentors.
And, of course, the risk-averse mentality is one of the drivers of the tsunami of computerization that threatens to drown our health care delivery system. The fallacious legal argument that if it wasn’t documented, it didn’t happen, has resulted in a glut of computer-enhanced “documentation” that even the most casual observer realizes isn’t worth the electrons it takes to light up the pixels on a computer screen.
Even if we ignore their incalculable emotional costs, malpractice suits and the litigious climate in which we practice are eating away at our health care delivery system. I certainly don’t have the answers to rein in the costs. I only can recommend that you practice the best medicine you know how, and do it in a manner that demonstrates you care about the patient. And hope you have good lawyer who cares about you more than his fee.
Dr. William G. Wilkoff
Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Email him at pdnews@frontlinemedcom.com.