The virtuous orthopaedist has fewer malpractice suits

It generally is believed that physicians who have poor relationships with t heir patients are more likely to be sued, We studied certain physician char acteristics and related them to their number of malpractice suits and the a mount paid to settle those claims. Physicians with better rapport with thei r patients, who took more time to explain, and who were available had fewer malpractice suits. The most significant correlation was found in time spen t with the patient. As the time spent increased, the number of suits decrea sed.