Clinical practice guidelines and the law

Eike-Henner Kluge, PhD

Canadian Medical Association Journal 1996; 155: 574-576

Eike-Henner Kluge is a member of the Special Advisory Committee on Ethical Issues in Health Care for the British Columbia Ministry of Health.

See also Readers' Forum: Guidelines are neither standards nor cost-cutting tools

In brief

With physicians in Canada under increasing threat of malpractice litigation, it has been suggested that adopting clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) as standards of care would free doctors from the fear of litigation initiated by dissatisfied patients. However, ethicist Eike-Henner Kluge argues that CPGs can only be considered general indicators of standards of care.

En bref

Comme les médecins du Canada sont de plus en plus menacés de poursuites pour faute professionnelle, on a laissé entendre que l'adoption de guides de pratique clinique (GPC) comme normes de soins affranchirait les médecins de la crainte de poursuites intentées par des patients insatisfaits. Eike-Henner Kluge, éthicien, soutient toutefois que les GPC ne peuvent être considérés que comme des indicateurs généraux de normes de soins.

| CMAJ September 1, 1996 (vol 155, no 5) / JAMC le 1er septembre 1996 (vol 155, no 5) |