Defensive medicine: a practice in whose defense?

Authors

  • Homaile Mascarin do Vale Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto - FAMERP http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1218-8093
  • Maria Cristina de Oliveira Santos Miyazaki Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto, Universidade de Londres, Universidade de São Paulo Instituto de Psicologia

Abstract

Cases of litigation against physicians have been growing in Brazil: there are currently three new lawsuits filed per hour related to alleged medical error. The purpose of this study was to analyze if both the physician who is sued and the physician who knows another physician who has been sued change their clinical behavior due to the fear of appearing as a defendant in a lawsuit seeking compensation for medical error. In all, 104 questionnaires were answered by physicians of 28 different specialties, 53 (51%) being women and 51 (49%) being men. The relationship between variables such as marital status, the average time since graduation, employment links, among others, and the daily practice of defensive medicine. The study aims to promote the debate about the change in clinical behavior due to the physician’s interest in not being sued by removing the link between their
conduct and the patient’s diagnostic hypothesis.

Keywords:

Defensive medicine. Medical errors. Malpractice-Imprudence.

Author Biography

Homaile Mascarin do Vale, Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto - FAMERP

Casos de litígios contra médicos cresceram em todo o país, de 2015 para 2016 logrou-se um aumento de 49%. Com o presente estudo objetivou-se analisar se tanto o médico processado quanto o médico que conhece outro médico processado altera sua conduta clínica em razão do receio de figurar como réu em ação indenizatória por erro médico.  Ao todo, foram realizados 104 questionários com médicos de 28 especialidades diferentes, sendo 53 mulheres (50.96%) e 51 homens (49.04%). A média de idade da população estudada foi de 35.7 anos (+/-12.1), que variaram entre 23 e 71 anos. O estudo tem o foco de promover discussão sobre a alteração da conduta clínica por interesse do médico em não ser processado afastando o vínculo entre sua conduta e a hipótese diagnóstica do paciente.

Vol. 27 No. 4 (2019): Revista Bioética 27(4)

Published:

2019-12-19

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How to Cite

1.
do Vale HM, Miyazaki MC de OS. Defensive medicine: a practice in whose defense?. Rev. bioét.(Impr.). [Internet]. 2019 Dec. 19 [cited 2024 May 20];27(4). Available from: http://www.revistabioetica.cfm.org.br/revista_bioetica/article/view/1972