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Pediatricians facing new challenges in health care practice

Pediatricians, like other physicians, are beset by a growing number of problems new to health care: competition for patients; the increased risk of litigation and subsequent rise in medical liability premiums; a rapidly expanding biomedical kneowledge-base required to practice good medicine; intrusion by the government into medical practice (e.g., Baby Doe); and a sense of frustration at the lessened respect for medicine, in general.

What is the pediatrician and the American Academy of pediatrics able to do about this complex set of circumstances?

There is no single or simple answer to this question. Physicians, like other professionals, must appreciate that this is an era of growing public challenge of authority which has spawned an increasingly litigious society. The Academy, through its new Committee on Medical Liability, is addressing this issue through a variety of actions. The most recent has been the development of a new manual, "An Introduction to Medical Liability for Pediatricians," which will be distributed to the entire membership this month.