title: Professional liability for using financial criteria in clinical decisions.
abstract: Physicians who include in their treatment protocols financial criteria that serve the economic interests of third-party payors or the hospitals in which they practice face an additional burden in malpractice defense. A new delicate balance exists between protecting the patient's welfare and the constraints imposed by government and fiscal intermediaries.
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D003675:Defensive Medicine / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008318:Malpractice / Q000191:economics*; D006278:Medicare; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000191:economics*; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States