Law's Influence on Medicine and Medical Ethics

Ginzberg recently described in the Journal the monetarization of medical care.1 Law follows money, and along with monetarization have come new laws and legal regulations — constraints that cast a lengthening shadow over the clinical practice of medicine. PSRO (professional standards review organization), PRO (professional review organization), DRG (diagnosisrelated group), and CON (certificate of need) are acronyms that have entered the physician's consciousness — along with malpractice liability, antitrust actions, and federal and state regulation. The health-insurance industry, increasingly the target of legal regulation by administrative agencies, legislatures, and courts, is itself a powerful regulatory influence and has acted in . . .