The influence of a physician's use of a diagnostic decision aid on the malpractice verdicts of mock jurors.
BACKGROUND
Mock jurors were more likely to side with the physician-defendant if he recommended an operation when there were many symptoms and refrained when there were few symptoms compared with a physician who did the converse. The use of a decision aid had no influence on this binary standard-of-care decision. Among those physicians deemed liable by the jurors, defying the aid resulted in heightened punishment compared with heeding it.


CONCLUSIONS
. Contrary to many physicians' fears, use of a diagnostic decision aid did not influence the likelihood of an adverse malpractice verdict. Complying with the aid's recommendation provided a measure of protection against jurors' punitiveness for those physicians deemed liable for malpractice.
Arkes
Hal R
HR
Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1222, USA. arkes.1@osu.edu
Shaffer
Victoria A
VA
Medow
Mitchell A
MA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000628:therapy; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors