Lending an Ear

Good Bedside Manners and Ability to Laugh Makes a Marked Difference in Incidence of Malpractice Suits. By Jef Feeley. Dr. Barbara Korsch has witnessed this scene thousands of times in doctors' offices across the United States: The physician hustles into an exam room, brusquely begins questioning the patient about his or her symptoms and constantly interrupts with judgmental questions. The doctor then renders a diagnosis and prescribes a course of treatment without fully explaining it to the bewildered—and by now, angry—patient before rushing off to the next appointment. The whole visit lasts less than 10 minutes.. That doctor is a walking malpractice lawsuit if the patient's health problem worsens, says Korsch, a professor at the University of Southern California Medical School, and a Los Angeles pediatrician.. And it's the doctor's atrocious communications skills—not any medical mistake—that most likely spawned the suit, says Korsch.. "Studies have shown that the basis for most malpractice claims is doctors' total failure to communicate with patients rather than any technical error," says Korsch, who heads the Bayer Institute for Health Communications' advisory council. "If people feel their doctor listens to them and talks to them, rather than at them, they are much less likely to sue the doctor regardless ...

Palavras chave: , them, doctor, patients, their, doctors, patient, korsch, they, says, malpractice, about, physicians, medical, bedside, says korsch, says korsch, malpractice suits, health problem, korsch has,