Medical malpractice and its consequences : Does physician gender play a role?

Explores whether gender is associated with malpractice among health maintenance organization (HMO) physicians & how malpractice affects physicians' psychological well-being. Mail questionnaire data from 608 physicians practicing in two group model HMOs in the Pacific Northwest & OH indicate that female physicians were significantly less likely than male physicians to have been sued. Differences remained after adjusting for physician age, time in practice, specialty, workload, & characteristics of physicians' patient panels. Sued physicians were significantly more at risk for burnout than never-sued physicians & were less satisfied with the HMO. Findings did not differ by gender. 5 Tables, 40 References. Adapted from the source document.