RE "SJC ruling adds to doctor liability: Allows suit in crash caused by a patient" (City & Region, Dec. 11): I believe the Supreme Judicial Court's decision will have an immediately chilling effect on the practice of medicine in Massachusetts.
In order to protect oneself against the risks it imposes, physicians will need to have signed releases from patients for any drugs that could potentially affect the central nervous system. This is logistically and professionally impossible. Our options are to disregard the ruling and prescribe as we always have, or to refuse to provide prescriptions for sedatives or narcotics to patients without having them come in for an educational session, documented in the medical record and signed with a release.
Until now, there has been a clear message to all physicians that side effects must be explained along with potential risks and benefits. This has always been a given. This current ruling ratchets the risk and the need for documentation to a level that is incompatible with reasonable patient care.
In my 31 years as a primary care physician in Massachusetts, I cannot recall any of the myriad thoughtless acts by our state government that threatens the practice of medicine more than this ruling does.
Dr. MARTIN P. SOLOMON
Brookline
WHEN DOES it end, this continuous extension of liability to deep pockets that are only peripherally connected to an adverse outcome? It is tragic that a 10-year-old boy was killed by a driver who fell asleep while on medication. But isn't it the responsibility of the driver to read and heed the warnings printed on his medication? Isn't it an unreasonable stretch to hold the man's doctor responsible? Unfortunately, the Supreme Judicial Court does not think so.
Apart from rationality and justice, another reason not to hold doctors responsible is the increasing difficulty of recruiting and retaining doctors in Massachusetts. It's expensive to live here, and doctors can earn higher pay elsewhere. The state also suffers from the perception of an unfavorable liability climate, a reputation that is reinforced by this SJC ruling.
Dr. DONALD G. ROSS
North Andover
