Call it collegial criticism, jousting or backbiting. By any name, when you criticize another physician or facility, you're treading in dangerous territory - and in many cases, you're triggering a lawsuit. Jousting takes many forms, from saying outright to a patient "You should see a lawyer," to more subtle statements like "Well, that's not the way I would do it." The result is often that the patient loses faith in his physician and goes to a lawyer; in my experience, this is behind about half the lawsuits I defend. Here are three cases where loose lips led to lawsuits.