Sex effects and sentencing: An analysis of the statistical literature

The violent victimization of medical patients resulting from reckless or negligent physician care has traditionally remained beyond the reach of the criminal law. The professional nature of the doctor-patient relationship, as well as the existence of civil and peer-initiated sanctions, has insulated doctors from criminal prosecution. The purpose of our research is to examine whether this traditional immunity remains intact or has been breached. As a prelude to this analysis, we identify several factors which, when considered together, indicate physicians' increasing vulnerability to criminal prosecution. We present the results of a search conducted to identify cases involving the criminal prosecution of physician violence, and we examine the cases in terms of several characteristics that marked the prosecutions. Our results suggest that we may be witnessing the beginning of the use of the criminal sanction against physician violence.