Doctors Law

With exemplary clarity and objectivity, Massachusetts Supreme Court justice Zobel ( Boston Massacre ) and Rous ( The Prostate Book ) offer valuable advice to doctors who are called as trial vitnesses, as medical experts, or as defendants in career-threatening malpractice suits. Focusing primarily on the last, they help to prepare doctors for the practical aspects of the ordeal, and also the emotional ones (typically fear and anger). They do so by explaining the judicial point of view, legal procedures, the roles of opining physicians, lawyer-insurance company relationships and more. Finally, Zobel and Rous review in detail the ``anatomy of a trial,'' from jury selection to verdict to possible appeal. (Mar.)