Medicolegal Liability for Ontario Physicians: How the threat affects the scope and style of general practice.

Family physicians and general practitioners in Ontario have responded more dramatically to the threat of medicolegal suits than physicians in other parts of the country. The authors identified geographic differences in responses to a national survey and suggest some explanations of these differences, some effects of the more defensive practice of medicine in Ontario on the province's health care system, and changes that might reduce physician concern.