title: The physician's reaction to a malpractice suit.
abstract: A malpractice suit can have a devastating impact on a practitioner's professional and personal life. The physician's reaction to this event is profound, affecting his own life-style and that of family, colleagues, and patients. This commentary presents an analogy between the physician's reaction to a malpractice suit and the stages of grief described by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: the sequence of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Understanding the psychodynamics of this reaction can help physicians to cope with the problems inherent in a malpractice suit and to maintain a greater stability in their personal lives. Adverse effects on medical practice and private life-style, and on the legal proceedings, can be minimized.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Kentucky.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lavery
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*