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NEUROLOGY 2008;71:1283-1288
© 2008 American Academy of Neurology
Special Article: Professionalism

Invited Article: Professionalism in neurology

The role of law

Dan Larriviere, MD, JD and H. Richard Beresford, MD, JD

From the Department of Neurology (D.L.), University of Virginia School of Medicine, and University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville; and Department of Neurology (H.R.B.), University of Rochester School of Medicine, and Cornell University Law School, Ithaca, NY.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Dan Larriviere, Box 800394, Charlottesville, VA 22908 dgl6t{at}virginia.edu

Professionalism may be defined as the obligation of the physician to uphold the primacy of patients’ interests, to achieve and maintain medical competency, and to abide by high ethical standards. Recent commentary has suggested that medical professionalism is being threatened by commercialism and the legal system. Consideration of judicial rulings centered on primacy of patients’ interests (informed consent, end-of-life care, and conflicts of interest), medical competence (standard of care in medical malpractice cases, medical futility cases, and confidentiality of peer review), and enforcement of ethical standards (peer review by professional organizations) demonstrates that the law generally defers to standards set by the medical profession, but competing views over what health care model is operative may generate non-deferential outcomes.

Disclosure: The authors report no disclosures.

Received April 26, 2008. Accepted in final form June 23, 2008.






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