Health care providers should be confident in knowing what the standard of care is, and feel safe in practicing that.

DR. STANKUS is an emergency medicine resident at the University of New Mexico and is a former medical malpractice defense attorney. She is a member of ACEP's National Medical Legal Committee.

References

1. Tillinghast-Towers Perrin. US Tort Costs: 2003 Update, Trends and Findings on the Cost of the U.S. Tort System 17 (2003).
2. www.massmed.org/defensivemedicine.
3. Kessler, McClellen. Do Doctors Practice Defensive Medicine? The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 1999; 111(2):353-90.
4. Dodge, Fitzer. When Good Doctors Get Sued, Dodge Publications. 2001.
5. Jury Verdict Research: Verdicts, Settlements and Statistical Analysis 5, 8 (Brooke J. Doran, ed., 2005).