[rscho]

Well, from what I see in the US, the risk to be sued actually encourages a lot more damaging procedures than it makes people rigorous. That's not to say people shouldn't be allowed to sue. Actually, there is really no good solution to this problem.

The best situation I have seen is where people do sue, but hospitals provide legal protection for their employees (public sector in western Europe). Employees there still fear for their jobs, but not enough to put patients through nearly as much useless and risky crap as in the US. Patients there are also far less prone to sue, since the success rate of legal action is low. All in all, everyone seems to benefit from a little less tension in the system.

Of course, you will always find people who feel (perhaps rightly so) that they were wronged, and that we should cut the hands of the bad docs. Finding balance in those matters is a difficult social exercise.