Doctor’s mood increases chance of medical negligence, study reveals

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• Jun 5, 2022 | Guriya Khatun

During this time, little over 5% of the doctors polled said they had been mentioned in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Male doctors were shown to be more affected than female doctors.

Digital
Desk: Doctors’ mood affects their work and increases the chance of medical
negligence, a new study reveals.

Between
2013 and 2018, a research team led by Dr Owen Bradfield and Professor Matthew
Spittal analysed over 12,000 Australian doctors' responses to the Medicine in
Australia Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) survey.

Doctors
who participated in the poll were asked about their age, gender,
specialisation, personality, health, life satisfaction, working conditions, and
whether they had ever been sued.

Dr.
Bradfield explained, "This allowed us to analyse and correlate employment,
health, and personality aspects with a doctor's likelihood of being sued."

During
this time, little over 5% of the doctors polled said they had been mentioned in
a medical malpractice lawsuit. Male doctors were shown to be more affected than
female doctors.

"It's
vital that we try to figure out why some doctors are being sued. A doctor's
error can have devastating repercussions for patients and be costly to the
health-care system "Dr. Bradfield stated the following.

"Patients
who have been harmed by a doctor's mistake can sue the doctor for remedy, answers,
and promises that mistakes will not be repeated. As a result, knowing why that
doctor was sued for making a mistake can help us prevent medical errors and
enhance healthcare quality."

Professor
Spittal stated that previous research has shown that older male doctors who
perform surgical operations and have a history of complaints are at the highest
risk of being sued.

He
added, "However, because not all older male surgeons are actually sued, we
suspected that work, health, and personality factors might also hold the key to
explaining these differences.”

Employers,
regulators, and health practitioners who care for sick doctors may benefit from
identifying additional risk variables, according to Dr. Bradfield.

"Long
working hours must be addressed in order to reduce doctor tiredness. In
addition, we must build supportive work environments and target interventions
that promote doctors' general well-being, such as healthy lifestyles and
positive psychology programmes. This could help doctors avoid being sued and
increase patient safety "he stated.