The malpractice controversy and the quality of patient care.

The widespread doctor strikes of 1975 stimulated belated attention to a crisis in malpractice insurance. Most state legislatures responded only to a shadow crisis in insurance as they rallied to the defense of health care providers. The smouldering substantive crisis--the reality of malpractice--is now galvanizing institutions and professions into aggressive activities for quality assurance and renewal of trust between patient and doctor. New procedural experiments offer prospects for preserving economy and equity by containing the causes of malpractice suits within the health care system itself.