Nash Louise M, Kelly Patrick J, Daly Michele G, Walter Garry, van Ekert Elizabeth H, Walton Merrilyn, Willcock Simon M, Tennant Christopher C
New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Med J Aust. 2009 Oct 19;191(8):436-40. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2009.tb02879.x.
To investigate the frequency of, and factors associated with, Australian doctors' involvement in medicolegal matters.
DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional survey of Australian doctors (specialists, trainees and general practitioners) insured with the medical insurance company Avant. A self-report questionnaire was mailed to Avant members in September 2007 to gather data on their involvement in medicolegal matters. Information on psychiatric morbidity and alcohol consumption was also collected using the General Health Questionnaire and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.
Occurrence and type of past and current medicolegal matters with which doctors have been involved.
Of 8500 doctors invited to participate, 2999 returned completed surveys (36% response rate). Sixty-five per cent of respondents had been involved in a medicolegal matter at some time, and 14% were involved in a current matter. The two most common types of medicolegal matter were claims for compensation and complaints to a health care complaints body. Doctors were more likely to be involved in medicolegal matters if they were male, worked in high-intervention areas of medicine (surgery and obstretics/gynaecology), and worked longer hours.
Our study concurs with other studies in finding an association between medicolegal matters and being male, working long hours and working in high-intervention areas of medicine. Unlike other studies, we found no association between age and involvement in a current medicolegal matter. Our findings also pose the question of whether psychiatric morbidity in doctors is a cause or effect of the medicolegal process.
调查澳大利亚医生卷入医疗法律事务的频率及其相关因素。
设计、地点和参与者：对投保于医疗保险公司Avant的澳大利亚医生（专科医生、实习医生和全科医生）进行横断面调查。2007年9月向Avant的会员邮寄了一份自填式问卷，以收集他们卷入医疗法律事务的数据。还使用一般健康问卷和酒精使用障碍识别测试收集了有关精神疾病发病率和饮酒情况的信息。
医生曾卷入的过去和当前医疗法律事务的发生情况及类型。
在受邀参与的8500名医生中，2999人返回了完整的调查问卷（回复率为36%）。65%的受访者曾在某个时候卷入过医疗法律事务，14%的人卷入了当前事务。两种最常见的医疗法律事务类型是赔偿索赔和向医疗投诉机构投诉。如果医生为男性、在医学的高干预领域（外科和妇产科）工作且工作时间较长，则他们更有可能卷入医疗法律事务。
我们的研究与其他研究一致，发现医疗法律事务与男性、长时间工作以及在医学的高干预领域工作之间存在关联。与其他研究不同的是，我们发现年龄与卷入当前医疗法律事务之间没有关联。我们的研究结果还提出了一个问题，即医生的精神疾病是医疗法律程序的原因还是结果。
