The influence of a physician's use of a diagnostic decision aid on the malpractice verdicts of mock jurors.

Background: Mock jurors were more likely to side with the physician-defendant if he recommended an operation when there were many symptoms and refrained when there were few symptoms compared with a physician who did the converse. The use of a decision aid had no influence on this binary standard-of-care decision. Among those physicians deemed liable by the jurors, defying the aid resulted in heightened punishment compared with heeding it.

Conclusion: . Contrary to many physicians' fears, use of a diagnostic decision aid did not influence the likelihood of an adverse malpractice verdict. Complying with the aid's recommendation provided a measure of protection against jurors' punitiveness for those physicians deemed liable for malpractice.