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...

The use of tissue plasminogen activator in ischemic stroke is controversial. Many practicing physicians believe that its usefulness is established, while others, including professional specialty societies, are less sanguine. A review of the literature appears to show that the use of tissue plasminogen activator is efficacious and can result in highly improved outcomes for a majority of eligible...

The rhetoric of malpractice reform is at fever pitch, but political advocacy does not necessarily reflect grassroots opinion. To determine whether the ongoing liability crisis has greatly reduced physicians' professional satisfaction, we surveyed specialist physicians in Pennsylvania. We found widespread discontent among physicians practicing in high-liability environments, which seems to be co...

Mounting malpractice liability costs might affect physician practice patterns in many ways, such as increasing the use of diagnostic procedures while reducing major surgeries. This paper quantifies the association between malpractice liability costs and the use of physician services in Medicare. We find that higher malpractice awards and premiums are associated with higher Medicare spending, es...

Examination malpractice is any act carried out by anybody that defies the rules that guides a student whose knowledge or ability is being tested in a particular knowledge or skill with the aim of distorting the student’s true knowledge or ability. This article employs three classical major sociological perspectives in analyzing examination malpractice in Nigerian Universities. The structural-fu...

Good communication between a patient and a doctor has long been accepted as essential for quality health care. “Good patient-clinician communication leads to better clinical outcomes and more satisfied patients. Poor communication leads to poor outcomes, dissatisfaction, and malpractice litigation [Coulehan and Block 2001].” How to educate medical students on these communication skills is the d...

A retrospective analysis of the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) Public Use Data File was performed on anesthesia-related malpractice payments from 2004 to 2010. Anesthesia-related allegations, malpractice act or omission codes, severity of injury, and cost were assessed. The NPDB captured 369 anesthesia-related malpractice payments associated with Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists ...

An important aspect of the perceived problem with medical malpractice litigation is the manner in which malpractice claims are resolved.' Following the first medical malpractice crisis in the mid-1970s and the more recent difficulties with insurance costs and availability, the majority of states enacted legislation affecting the procedures used to resolve malpractice claims. 2 Procedural reform...