Physicians' Discourses on Malpractice and the Meaning of Medical Malpractice

Recent analyses of the professions have considered the question of the changing nature of professional power. This study is an interpretive analysis of the meaning of physicians' discourse in the face of a perceived challenge to the traditional boundaries of clinical practice from malpractice suits. The data for this analysis were drawn from interviews with physicians from three specialties and from documents produced by the AMA/Specialty Society. Four modes of discourse were observed: (1) affective lament; (2) rejection of tort law; (3) complaints about a deterioration in the culture of clinical practice; and (4) a call for active campaigning. Analysis of the modes of discourse highlights both the ways in which professional power is subjected to challenge and the forms of political, financial, and cultural struggle that professional organizations and individuals engage in to resist such challenges.