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Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Abstract

Perhaps it is the white coat or the degrees encased and mounted on the wall. Perhaps it is the Hippocratic Oath that new physicians recite and that established physicians have putatively internalized over time, or perhaps it is the title, "Doctor," which conjures up images of a stethoscope, a black bag, house calls, nurture, and trust. When we are sick, we head to the doctor. Young children are urged to become doctors. When we watch television or go to the movies doctors are, with certain recent exceptions, portrayed in a positive light as compared to lawyers or politicians. In this regard, membership in the profession has its privileges-but also, of course, its obligations. Stressing as much, courts have observed that the state interest in regulating doctors is "especially great" because the physician is in "a position of public trust and responsibility." In this way, it is because of the veneration and status they enjoy that physicians are held to the high standards they are-warranting scrutiny that other professionals, even other professions licensed or certified by the state, may not necessarily receive. And yet physicians, like all people, are subject to temptations, aversions, errors in judgment, and missteps. The difference is that when they do err, doctors are punished on two fronts: as citizens who have violated the rules of the state and as licensed professionals who have acted in a manner inconsistent with the terms of their stateconferred privilege. This two-part punitive punch (administered in both respects by the state or quasi-state entities) is intriguing for a host of reasons.

Disciplines

Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Law | Medical Jurisprudence | State and Local Government Law

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