Psychiatry malpractice and administrative inquiries of alleged physician misconduct

Practicing psychiatrists facing allegations of substandard practice will most often confront either against claims of malpractice in civil court or claims of misconduct in an administrative inquiry conducted by a state or other health care agency that has oversight authority over the physician. Legally, malpractice requires a departure from physician's standard of care, patient harm and a legal causal link between die two. The differing roles of clinician, supervisor, consultant and expert witness serve to explicate the law's view of physicians' changing duties in differing professional circumstances. In contrast to malpractice litigation, administrative hearings focus on physician conduct, regardless of patient damage, and on the physician's prospective fitness for duty. Both the processes and the gravity of administrative hearings are typically less well appreciated by practitioners.