The impact of legal medicine education on medical students' attitudes toward law.

Physicians' negative attitudes toward law and the legal system derive in part from the physician's lack of understanding of basic legal principles relating to medical practice. Required legal medicine education at the medical school level offers a vehicle for changing these attitudes while at the same time clarifying physicians' rights and responsibilities under the law. The authors in this study assess the impact of required curriculum programming in legal medicine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine on medical students' attitudes toward law and the legal system. A total of 80 students completed a survey instrument prior to and immediately following required instruction in legal medicine. This instrument enabled the authors to gather information regarding students' attitudes toward law and the legal system as well as students' perceptions of ther medical/legal knowledge. The results suggest that legal medicine education has a favorable impact on the attitudes of medical students toward law and the legal system.