Physicians' attitude toward professional liability

Aim of the study. To evaluate physicians’ attitude toward professional liability. Objectives: To establish physicians’ knowledge about legal regulation of professional liability, to evaluate physicians’ attitude toward professional duties and liability, to establish physicians’ opinion about patients’ complaints and the reasons of increasing of professional liability lawsuits in Lithuania. Methods. Anonymous questionnaire survey of 199 physicians working at Kaunas District Hospital was carried out. 160 questionnaires returned (response rate 80.4 %) – 119 of them were suitable for analysis. SPSS 13.0 version of statistic analysis package was used to analyze data. Results. 76.7 % of physicians stated that they were well familiar with duty instructions, regulating work content, rights and professional liability. Physicians estimated their knowledge about legal professional liability regulation as average and lower than average (1.83 – 3 points, when 5 points maximum). 68.9 % of physicians stated they were willing to get more knowledge of law. Half of respondents (51.0 %) noted that most acceptable statement for them was that physician obligate not to cure the patient, but to give him medical aid honestly and closely, depending on medical science progress. Statements that physicians’ work is demanding high professional skills and great liability were valued with the highest rates (means 4.77 and 4.71). More than third of respondents (36.4 %) stated, that patients complained about their work. 75.7 % of physicians were insured their professional liability. Bigger part of insured respondents (40.7 %) indicated that patients complained about their work, comparing with uninsured ones (23.1 %) (p