How suing can destroy doctors: “It is devastating to try your best to help someone and end up hurting them instead. Doctors carry tremendous guilt and self-doubt when they make a medical mistake. A malpractice suit compounds their self-flagellation with risk of financial ruin and public humiliation, which can drag on for years. For physicians who feel unfairly blamed, the predominant emotions are often anger and fear. ‘I told her to go for a colonoscopy and she didn’t go. So why is it my fault that she got cancer?!’

All physicians who have been sued are deeply, negatively affected. Some lose their passion for medicine. Some no longer trust their patients. Many fantasize about leaving medicine and opening a flower shop or a Bed and Breakfast.”