For ages, surgeons have participated in quality assurance activities by discussing deaths and complications in mortality and morbidity conferences. Rarely, if ever, would this apply to the care a patient receives. Surgeons need to be aware of the possibility of misguided attempts to place the blame on someone. Organized medicine will need to continue to stand behind physicians wrongly accused of criminal actions. The thrust of the newspaper article, however, was to show how some physicians are attempting to apply to medicine the established principles for safety checks and protocols in the aviation industry.
Medical professionals are the most qualified to provide oversight and direction to their own.
With the ongoing advances in medicine and the threat of civil litigation, certainly physicians do not need the added burden of possible criminal prosecution to complicate the care of their patients. However, an inappropriately filed criminal charge risks serious harm to the health care provider. Physicians and organized medicine need to take steps to encourage local and federal legislation to clarify the extent to which physicians who acted in good faith can be prosecuted under criminal statutes. This article on professional liability was generated through the efforts of the Committee on Professional Liability of the ACS Board of Regents. Members of the committee believe that this and other articles published in the Bulletin should stimulate thought and possible action on a wider spectrum of issues related to professional liability.