title: Bad law, bad medicine.
abstract: In this Comment, Dr. Altschule contends that in a variety of ways the American legal system currently is endangering the existence of positive physician-patient relationships, which are essential to the effective practice of medicine. First, he contends, physicians are exposed to an excessively high risk of liability for malpractice, and as a result must substitute the use of "defensive," often unnecessary laboratory tests for reliance on their own sound medical judgment. Second, the confidentiality of communications between physicians and patients is receiving inadequate legal protection; therefore, patients often are hesitant to reveal aspects of their medical history that may be critical to their case. Third, the federal government, by its medically inappropriate attempts to ban drugs that do not meet certain federal "safe and effective" standards, and to ban food additives that fail to pass certain federally controlled tests aimed at determining whether the additive causes cancer, is making it increasingly difficult for physicians to prescribe substances that may be of great value to their patients. The author warns that our society's failure to substantially alleviate such problems is likely to lead to an inferior brand of medical practice.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002273:Carcinogens; D003219:Confidentiality; D003675:Defensive Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D008318:Malpractice; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012439:Saccharin / Q000633:toxicity; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D002273:Carcinogens; D012439:Saccharin