> Do you really think health workers are all concerned about legalities first?

100%. Legal issues are a huge deal in healthcare. This is a snippet from a study [1] on the topic, just to get an idea of the scale (which I think most do not realize at all):

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Each year during the study period, 7.4% of all physicians had a malpractice claim, with 1.6% having a claim leading to a payment (i.e., 78% of all claims did not result in payments to claimants). The proportion of physicians facing a claim each year ranged from 19.1% in neurosurgery, 18.9% in thoracic–cardiovascular surgery, and 15.3% in general surgery to 5.2% in family medicine, 3.1% in pediatrics, and 2.6% in psychiatry. The mean indemnity payment was $274,887, and the median was $111,749. Mean payments ranged from $117,832 for dermatology to $520,923 for pediatrics. It was estimated that by the age of 65 years, 75% of physicians in low-risk specialties had faced a malpractice claim, as compared with 99% of physicians in high-risk specialties.

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I can give a very specific example of how legal issues play directly into behavior, and how it leads to antibiotic over-prescription. Antibiotics are obviously useless against viral infections but many, if not most, doctors will habitually describe them for viral infections anyhow. Why? Because a viral infection tends to leave your body more susceptible to bacterial infections. For instance a flu (viral) can very rarely lead to pneumonia (bacterial). And that person who then gets very sick from pneumonia can sue for malpractice. It's not malpractice because in the average case antibiotic prescription is not, at all, justified by the cost:benefit, but doctors do it anyhow to try to protect themselves from lawsuits.

There have been studies demonstratively showing this as well, in that doctors who live in areas with less rampant malpractice lawsuits are less likely to prescribe antibiotics unless deemed necessary. Or if you have a friend/family in medicine you can simply ask them about this - it's not some fringe thing.

[1] - https://web.archive.org/web/20250628065433/https://www.nejm....

I get that in some societies there is a quick journey from something bad, to someone-to-blame. In litigious societies this means a quick trip to sue someone, anyone...

What's interesting to me is that in societies not prone to blame, or lawsuits, it can be much easier to have human interactions without being inhibited by legal fear.

Accepting that people make mistakes makes progress simpler. I recently had a medical issue which would have turned out simpler had he run a specific test earlier. I'm not the litigious sort (and I'm not in a society that is litigious) so I can now go back to him and we can discuss the mistake so he doesn't make it in the future.

I accept he's not perfect. I seek his development not his censure.

This is outside the US. No doubt inside the US fear of lawsuits would make this feedback untenable.

My vent: I have very mild cerebral palsy- it affects my left hand and left foot slightly. But properly conditioned, I’ve run half marathons and ended up in the middle of the pack and I’ve been a gym rat and in above average shape all of my adult life.

That being said, anytime I’m looking on the web doing research, the first thing you find are lawyers looking to sue doctors. I absolutely hate that’s the first thing parents think about to blame doctors. Some times things just happen.