Recent malpractice premium hikes and President Bush’s federal tort reform proposal have focused attention on medical liability costs. One frequent justification for tort reform proposals is the potential impact of liability on defensive medicine. There is however, scant and conflicting evidence on whether malpractice risk alters physician practices. In this paper, I examine whether malpractice ...

T he last two articles published in the Medicolegal Sidebar addressed the complex interplay between the law and social values [1, 2]. Sometimes, court decisions may appear to be arbitrary and unfair to the medical profession, but a deeper examination of judicial rulings can show the practical tensions that courts sometimes face in adjudicating medical malpractice claims. We previously addressed...

BACKGROUND Emergency medicine is a high-risk specialty that carries a constant risk of malpractice litigation. Fear of malpractice litigation can lead to less-than-optimal patient care as well as impairments in physician quality of life. Although malpractice fear can be ubiquitous among emergency physicians, most receive little to no education on malpractice. DISCUSSION Medical malpractice re...

By many accounts, the United States is in the midst of its third medical malpractice "crisis." Physicians in several states are facing high and rising premiums. The largest national medical malpractice carrier and some large multistate physician-backed liability firms have recently left the market. Rising premiums are traced largely to increases in claims severity. Capping malpractice payments ...

The growth of medical malpractice liability costs has the potential to affect the delivery of health care in the U.S. along two dimensions. If growth in malpractice payments results in higher malpractice insurance premiums for physicians, these premiums may affect the size and composition of the physician workforce. The growth of potential losses from malpractice liability might also encourage ...

erative neurologic injury, infection, hemorrhage, hematoma, and drug-related side effects. Complications can be resolved without any serious problems if the cause is detected early and adequate treatment provided. In this case, it is rare for the medical staff to take legal responsibilities. However, in cases of malpractice, civil and criminal penalties are unavoidable if negligence of the medi...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this systematic review was to examine the epidemiology of malpractice claims in primary care. DESIGN A computerised systematic literature search was conducted. Studies were included if they reported original data (≥10 cases) pertinent to malpractice claims, were based in primary care and were published in the English language. Data were synthesised using a narrative appr...

The objective of this study was to take a closer look at defense-related expenses for medical malpractice cases over time. We conducted a retrospective review of medical malpractice claims reported to the Physician Insurers Association of America's Data Sharing Project with a closing date between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 2008. On average a medical malpractice claim costs more than $27,0...

Received September 5, 2007; revised November 13 and December 22, 2007, and February 25, 2008; accepted March 26, 2008. The authors are affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Address correspondence to Carol I. Ping Tsao, M.D., Medical College of Wisconsin, Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, 5000 W. National Ave, Milwauk...

The medical malpractice system in the United States is designed to both compensate and to deter medically induced injury. It performs these functions through the civil justice system, which allows individuals to seek redress for injury caused by medical negligence (improper or substandard medical care), and the liability insurance industry, which charges premiums to providers in exchange for fi...