Doctors still fear malpractice lawsuits, U.S. study finds

Dec. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that while doctors are fearful of being sued for malpractice, their worries are greater than their actual risk of landing in court.

"We found that both generalist and specialist physicians fear being sued for malpractice even in states where their risk of being sued is relatively low," senior study author Dr. David Katz, associate professor of medicine with University of Iowa Health Care, said in a university news release. "One likely explanation is that physicians' concerns about malpractice are driven more by their perception that the malpractice tort process is unfair and arbitrary and less by their actual risk of getting sued."