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In Brief
It Finally Happened to Me
Ruth Kannai
Background A practicing physician reflects on how a malpractice suit challenged her customary, patient-centered approach to care.
What This Study Found Sharing three vignettes from her practice, the author describes her inner dialogue both "preprosecution" and "postprosecution." She concludes that prosecuted doctors must not abandon their most fundamental contract with patients, which is to place them at the center, putting the patients' needs before their own and sacrificing their own comfort and security if necessary. She asserts that defensive medicine, often practiced by doctors to avert malpractice suits, sacrifices the patient's well-being for the emotional health and sound sleep of the doctor, sometimes at the cost of trying to shift the doctor's responsibility to the patient. And she tells how focusing on the needs of a single patient helped her to rediscover her perspective.
