Professional defenses: medical students' perceptions of medical malpractice.

Despite the pronounced interest in "challenges to professional dominance" in Britain, medical malpractice has been subject to little empirical attention. There has been a flurry of policy activity within the National Health Service over the last six or so years and a steady stream of commentary from professional bodies, yet we know very little about the views of various medical practitioners who occupy different positions in the professional hierarchy. This article explores the views of (first and fifth year) medical students and considers the extent to which they cohere with the public discourse of medical elites. The author suggests that while individual practice is the focal concern for medical students who seem acutely aware and concerned about litigation, elites construct malpractice as a macro economic-legal problem, strategically severing the association between individual practice and the experience of a malpractice suit.