Kasdan M L, Vender M I, Lewis K, Stallings S P, Melhorn J M
University of Louisville School of Medicine, USA.
J Ky Med Assoc. 1996 Jul;94(7):287-90.
We performed a study consisting of two parts to investigate the impact of litigation on patient recovery and physician workload. We received 556 replies from a questionnaire sent to hand surgeons and discovered that 98.20% of them felt that litigation increased the subjective complaints of patients. Most of these physicians (89.75%) also felt that litigation led to a worse result from treatment. Second, we undertook a retrospective chart review of 447 patients to see if there was a correlation between litigation, patient utilization of health care and physician workload. We found that workers' compensation patients with pending litigation went to the doctor's office more. They also had more letters, phone calls, and forms associated with their care, had more nerve conduction studies performed, and took longer to be discharged from care than patients with non-work-related carpal tunnel syndrome as well as workers' compensation patients who did not have pending litigation. These results indicated that litigation does affect patient utilization of health care and increases the workload on the physician.
我们进行了一项分为两个部分的研究，以调查诉讼对患者康复和医生工作量的影响。我们向手外科医生发送了问卷，收到了556份回复，发现其中98.20%的人认为诉讼增加了患者的主观诉求。这些医生中的大多数（89.75%）也认为诉讼导致治疗结果更差。其次，我们对447名患者进行了回顾性病历审查，以查看诉讼、患者医疗保健利用情况和医生工作量之间是否存在关联。我们发现，有未决诉讼的工伤赔偿患者去医生办公室的次数更多。与非工作相关腕管综合征患者以及没有未决诉讼的工伤赔偿患者相比，他们在护理方面还涉及更多信件、电话和表格，进行了更多神经传导研究，出院所需时间也更长。这些结果表明，诉讼确实会影响患者的医疗保健利用情况，并增加医生的工作量。
