Abstract
The medical profession is facing a serious challenge. The increase of technology, risks, and costs of modern medicine leads to the intervention of third parties within the medical decision-making process. This is particularly true in reproductive medicine, where a large part of medical activities are not curative, not linked with actual abnormalities, but preventive, and frequently oriented more to desire and convenience than to needs. These third parties belong to the fields of economics, administration, law, public opinion, mediatic power. This trend is universal, with some specific characteristics varying by country. The increased risk of litigation leads to an increase of all aspects of defensive medicine, with obvious medical, practical, economic deleterious consequences.
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This paper has been written according to the chapter entitled “The Malpractice Crisis. A Sociologic Choice,” C. Sureau, pages 289–301 in The Newborn Infant. One Brain for Life, from C. Amiel Tison, Ann Stewart Edit. Les Editions INSERM, Publ. Paris 1994. 307 pages and to the presentation given by C. Sureau in 1993 to the Committee on Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.
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Sureau, C. Medical deresponsibilization. J Assist Reprod Genet 12, 552–558 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02212919
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02212919