Our exploratory field study revealed four conditional factors that influence the impact of the risk of malpractice litigation on physicians' behaviors that run counter to patient safety.
In obstetrics and gynecology, a strong relationship between medical litigation and physician's actions has been reported [ 8, 25– 27].
Moreover, litigation risk discourages physicians from disclosing incidents to patients [ 8, 9].
Malpractice litigation risk influences physicians' behaviors that run counter to patient safety [ 3, 6- 11].
The objective of this study was to identify conditions that influence the relationship between malpractice litigation risk and physicians' behaviors.
This way complexity of care interacts with personalized responsibility and further research is needed to understand their joint effect on the relationship between litigation risk and physicians' behavior.
We identified four factors that could affect the relationship between malpractice litigation risk and physicians' behaviors that run counter to patient safety: complexity of care, discussing incidents with colleagues, personalized responsibility, and hospitals' response to physicians following incidents.
1 Computerised diagnostic support systems (CDSSs) have not enjoyed similar success over more than four decades of development, 2 despite diagnostic error affecting large numbers of patients, 3 and being the commonest cause of litigation against general physicians.
This could reduce the impact of malpractice litigation risk on physicians' behavior, and thereby reduce defensive medicine behavior and increase the willingness to report incidents and to disclose incidents to patients.
Section 5 of the bill invites civil litigation against a physician by the patient, the putative father of the pregnancy, or the patient's parents if she is a minor.
