Our Hands Are Tied: Legal Tensions and Medical Ethics

My sincere appreciation is extended to the Greenwall Foundation for its financial support of this project. Many of the ideas that animated this project originated during a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Fellowship in Health Care Finance that I enjoyed in 1987-88, particularly the facet in which I had the opportunity to learn more about medical malpractice public policy as a "fly on the wall" in the Office of the Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; my research grant from the Greenwall Foundation almost a decade later allowed me to explore these ideas in an organized fashion. For the many busy physicians, attorneys, ethicists, and others who provided me with data--through personal interviews, correspondence, and feedback during a number of formal presentations I had the opportunity to make during the course of this project--I extend my thanks for your time and insights; considerations of confidentiality prevent me from identifying you individually here, but you know who you are. As usual, the staff of the Fordham Health Sciences Library at Wright State University was extremely helpful in locating materials and in holding my hand while I entered the age of computerized databases kicking and screaming. Christina DeWitt provided her usual reliable secretarial support.

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