To assess the consequences of advance medical directives--which explicitly specify a patient's preferences for one or more specific types of medical treatment in the event of a loss of competence--we analyze the medical care of elderly Medicare beneficiaries who died between 1985 and 1995. We compare the care of patients from states that adopted laws enhancing incentives for compliance with adv...

State apology laws offer a separate avenue from traditional damages-centric tort reforms to address medical malpractice liability. These laws facilitate apologies from physicians by excluding statements of apology from malpractice trials. Prior research suggests that apologies may assuage the anger of patients, decrease the number of claims filed, and lower settlement amounts. Using a unique da...

Medical law inevitably involves decision-making, but the types of decisions that need to be made vary in nature, from those that are purely technical to others that contain an inherent ethical content. In this paper we identify the different types of decisions that need to be made, and explore whether the law, the medical profession, or the individual doctor is best placed to make them. We also...