Study participants described the perceived communication problems as follows: physicians would not listen, would not talk openly, attempted to mislead them, or did not warn them of long-term neurodevelopmental problems (in the case of newborn injury). Overwhelmingly, the dominant theme in these studies' findings was a breakdown in the patient-physician relationship, most often manifested as unsatisfactory patient-physician communication. The 4 predominant reasons prompting patients to file a lawsuit included 1) a desire to prevent a similar (bad) incident from happening again 2) a need for an explanation as to how and why an injury happened 3) a desire for financial compensation to make up for actual losses, pain, and suffering or to provide future care for the injured patient and 4) a desire to hold doctors accountable for their actions. Another team used questionnaires to survey plaintiffs ( 2), and the third conducted their study by telephone survey. In one study, deposition transcripts were reviewed ( 3). The authors of these studies utilized different study techniques to tap into the mindset of the patient/plaintiff. Several papers have been published that address this question ( 1– 3). In this age of phenomenal technological innovations and highly successful treatments and cures, why is it that our customers, the patients, are dissatisfied with their health care to such a degree that they feel compelled to file a lawsuit? It is harder to examine our own practices and ask ourselves what we could do to change patients' feelings that they need to sue doctors, hospitals, and nurses. It is easy to blame insurance companies, plaintiff lawyers, and runaway juries for our woes. The most concerning fallout is that patient access to care is being compromised. In some areas, the cost of malpractice insurance is prohibitive, causing physicians to leave medicine. The availability of medical malpractice insurance is diminishing insurance premiums are skyrocketing insurance carriers are going bankrupt or refusing to write insurance policies in Texas. We are presently in the throes of another medical malpractice insurance crisis, not unlike the crisis that occurred in the late 1970s.