• Louise Nash, Merrilyn Walton, Michele Daly, Maree Johnson, Garry Walter, Elizabeth van Ekert, Simon Willcock, and Chris Tennant.
• New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry, Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, and Greater Western Area Health Service, Dubbo, New South Wales. lnash@med.usyd.edu.au
• Aust Fam Physician. 2009 Jan 1; 38 (1-2): 66-70.

BackgroundGeneral practitioners' concerns about medicolegal issues have been shown to influence the practice of medicine. This research looks at GPs' beliefs about medicolegal issues and how medicolegal concerns affect their practice.MethodsA descriptive comparative design was used. A cross sectional self report survey was sent to 1239 GPs, 566 responded (46% response rate). Responses were considered as a group, and then comparisons were made between those who had experienced a medicolegal matter and those who had not. This data was sourced from surveys and medicolegal insurer records.ResultsGeneral practitioners with previous medicolegal experiences were more likely than their colleagues to report believing the law required them to make perfect decisions and that medicolegal factors made them consider early retirement from medicine. They were also less likely to believe that inadequate communication is a factor in most complaints. More than half the GPs reported having made practice changes due to medicolegal concerns in the following areas: test ordering (73%); specialist referrals (66%); systems to track test results (70%); and communication of risk to patients (68%). Other changes were reported less frequently.DiscussionThis study found that GPs' concerns about medicolegal matters impact on their practise of medicine. While greater awareness of medicolegal issues may lead to positive impacts, the negative impact of their concerns is that some changes arise from anxiety about medicolegal matters rather than from the exercise of good clinical judgment.

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