Paragraph 1 of Good Medical Practice published in November 2006 states

It is, of course, purely coincidental that legal issues and the pitfalls of practice are raised in Chapter 13 but the likelihood is that sooner or later, rightly or wrongly, each one of us will be faced with a complaint. This may emanate from a patient, a relative of a patient, an employer, a colleague or from another health professional. Patients have high expectations and you will be much better employed caring for them than dealing with lawyers.

Before making a life choice as to whether medicine is right for you and you are right for medicine, you need to consider whether you have the necessary temperament and resilience to deal with death and disappointment as well as the huge rewards of medicine and also with complaints. It is worth spending time now thinking about some of the less savoury aspects of medical practice and also considering whether there is anything you can do to avoid complaints or to mitigate the consequences to patients and their families and also to yourself.