Medical Malpractice Claims and the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Part four of Healthcare Matter’s interview with Anupam Jena, MD, PhD, Dr. Jena addresses the impact of the doctor-patient relationship on medical malpractice suits. Though he states that the idea that patients are less likely to sue a physician with whom they have a good relationship seems to be valid, he goes on to say that there is not very much data on how the quality of the doctor-patient relationship impacts medical malpractice lawsuits. Rather, these questions are ones that researchers are only now attempting to answer.

A medical doctor and economist, Dr. Jena is Associate Professor of Healthcare Policy and Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an assistant physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. His research areas include medical malpractice, the economics of medical innovation and cost effectiveness, geographic variation in medical care and insurance benefit design.

See Part IV of our wide-ranging interview with Dr. Jena below, or watch the entire program here.