title: Reducing physician vulnerability to professional liability claims: what practices make a difference?
abstract: Physicians--both "good" and "bad"--may find themselves targeted in medical malpractice lawsuits for reasons not necessarily related to recognized acts of commission or omission. As a result, taking appropriate steps to reduce their vulnerability to claims that may eventually be brought against them makes good sense from a risk management perspective. This article looks at the frequency, severity, reasons for, and "misadventures" associated with one physician-owned medical malpractice company's professional liability claims and offers selected practice management strategies that can help enhance physicians' defensibility in the event they are sued.
authors.affiliation: Illinois State Medical Insurance Services, Inc., Twenty North Michigan Avenue, Suite 700, Chicago, IL 60602, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meyers
mesh_terms: D003675:Defensive Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D004282:Documentation; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D016365:Liability, Legal; D008318:Malpractice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012308:Risk Management / Q000379:methods*; D013689:Telephone; D014481:United States