Improving the medical malpractice litigation process

Health Affairs

Volumn 23, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 33-41

  Struve, Catherine T ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CERTIFICATION; COMPENSATION; COURT; ECONOMIC ASPECT; HUMAN; INSURANCE; LAW SUIT; MALPRACTICE; MEDICAL EXPERT; MEDICAL LIABILITY; REVIEW; SCREENING;

EXPERT TESTIMONY; LIABILITY, LEGAL; MALPRACTICE; POLICY MAKING; UNITED STATES;

EID: 3242711471     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.23.4.33     Document Type: Review

References (36)

1. P.C. Weiler et al., A Measure of Malpractice: Medical Injury, Malpractice Litigation, and Patient Compensation (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993); and D.M. Studdert and T.A. Brennan, "Beyond Dead Reckoning: Measures of Medical Injury Burden, Malpractice Litigation, and Alternative Compensation Models from Utah and Colorado," Indiana Law Review 33, no. 4 (2000): 1643-1686.
2. P.C. Weiler et al., A Measure of Malpractice: Medical Injury, Malpractice Litigation, and Patient Compensation (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993); and D.M. Studdert and T.A. Brennan, "Beyond Dead Reckoning: Measures of Medical Injury Burden, Malpractice Litigation, and Alternative Compensation Models from Utah and Colorado," Indiana Law Review 33, no. 4 (2000): 1643-1686.
3. N. Vidmar, Medical Malpractice and the American Jury: Confronting the Myths about Jury Incompetence, Deep Pockets, and Outrageous Damage Awards (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995).
4. Ibid.; and S.R. Gross and K.D. Syverud, "Getting to No: A Study of Settlement Negotiations and the Selection of Cases for Trial," Michigan Law Review 90, no. 2 (1991): 319-393.
5. T.B. Metzloff, "Researching Litigation: The Medical Malpractice Example," Law and Contemporary Problems 51, no. 4 (1988): 199-241.
6. H.S. Farber and M.J. White, "Medical Malpractice: An Empirical Examination of the Litigation Process," RAND Journal of Economics 22, no. 2 (1991): 199-217; and H.S. Farber and M.J. White, "A Comparison of Formal and Informal Dispute Resolution in Medical Malpractice," Journal of Legal Studies 23, no. 2 (1994): 777-806.
7. H.S. Farber and M.J. White, "Medical Malpractice: An Empirical Examination of the Litigation Process," RAND Journal of Economics 22, no. 2 (1991): 199-217; and H.S. Farber and M.J. White, "A Comparison of Formal and Informal Dispute Resolution in Medical Malpractice," Journal of Legal Studies 23, no. 2 (1994): 777-806.
8. T.B. Metzloff, "Resolving Malpractice Disputes: Imaging the Jury's Shadow," Law and Contemporary Problems 54, no. 1 (1991): 43-129.
9. R. Peeples, C.T. Harris, and T.B. Metzloff, "The Process of Managing Medical Malpractice Cases: The Role of Standard of Care," Wake Forest Law Review 37, no. 3 (2002): 877-902.
10. States that have panel systems are Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Panel systems have been repealed or invalidated, or both, in Arizona, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Wyoming.
11. J.A. Macchiaroli, "Medical Malpractice Screening Panels: Proposed Model Legislation to Cure Judicial Ills," George Washington Law Review 58, no. 2 (1990): 181-260.
12. R. Hanson, B. Ostrom, and D. Rottman, "What Is the Role of State Doctrine in Understanding Tort Litigation?" Michigan Law and Policy Review 1, no. 1 (1996): 43-72; and S. Shmanske and T. Stevens, "The Performance of Medical Malpractice Review Panels," Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 11, no. 3 (1986): 525-535.
13. R. Hanson, B. Ostrom, and D. Rottman, "What Is the Role of State Doctrine in Understanding Tort Litigation?" Michigan Law and Policy Review 1, no. 1 (1996): 43-72; and S. Shmanske and T. Stevens, "The Performance of Medical Malpractice Review Panels," Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 11, no. 3 (1986): 525-535.
14. P.M. Danzon, "The Frequency and Severity of Medical Malpractice Claims: New Evidence," Law and Contemporary Problems 49, no. 2 (1986): 57-84.
15. F.A. Sloan, "State Responses to the Malpractice Insurance 'Crisis' of the 1970s: An Empirical Assessment," Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 9, no. 4 (1985): 629-646; and P.M. Danzon, Medical Malpractice: Theory, Evidence, and Public Policy (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985).
16. F.A. Sloan, "State Responses to the Malpractice Insurance 'Crisis' of the 1970s: An Empirical Assessment," Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 9, no. 4 (1985): 629-646; and P.M. Danzon, Medical Malpractice: Theory, Evidence, and Public Policy (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985).
17. Those states are Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia.
18. J.A. Parness and A. Leonetti, "Expert Opinion Pleading: Any Merit to Special Certificates of Merit?" Brigham Young University Law Review 1997, no. 3 (1997): 537-590.
19. 45 CFR (2003), sec. 164.524(b)(2).
20. D.M. Kopstein, "An Unwise 'Reform' Measure," Trial 39, no. 5 (2003): 26-29.
21. See, for example, Florida Statutes sec. 766.203; and Maryland Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings sec. 3-2A-04.
22. J.S. Cecil, V.P. Hans, and E.C. Wiggins, "Citizen Comprehension of Difficult Issues: Lessons from Civil Jury Trials," American University Law Review 40, no. 2 (1991): 727-774.
23. F.A. Sloan, P.B. Githens, and G.B. Hickson, "The Dispute Resolution Process," in FA. Sloan et al., Suing for Medical Malpractice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 153-186; Farber and White, "Formal and Informal Dispute Resolution"; and B. A. Liang, "Assessing Medical Malpractice Jury Verdicts: A Case Study of an Anesthesiology Department," Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy 7, no. 1 (1997): 121-164.
24. F.A. Sloan, P.B. Githens, and G.B. Hickson, "The Dispute Resolution Process," in FA. Sloan et al., Suing for Medical Malpractice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 153-186; Farber and White, "Formal and Informal Dispute Resolution"; and B. A. Liang, "Assessing Medical Malpractice Jury Verdicts: A Case Study of an Anesthesiology Department," Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy 7, no. 1 (1997): 121-164.
25. F.A. Sloan, P.B. Githens, and G.B. Hickson, "The Dispute Resolution Process," in FA. Sloan et al., Suing for Medical Malpractice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 153-186; Farber and White, "Formal and Informal Dispute Resolution"; and B. A. Liang, "Assessing Medical Malpractice Jury Verdicts: A Case Study of an Anesthesiology Department," Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy 7, no. 1 (1997): 121-164.
26. T.A. Brennan, C.M. Sox, and H.R. Burstin, "Relation between Negligent Adverse Events and the Outcomes of Medical-Malpractice Litigation," New England Journal of Medicine 335, no. 26 (1996): 1963-1967.
27. P.K. Howard, "The Best Course of Treatment," New York Times, 21 July 2003.
28. G.T. Munsterman, P.L. Hannaford, and G.M. Whitehead, eds., Jury Trial Innovations (Williamsburg, Va.: National Center for State Courts, 1997).
29. Although mean awards in some cities are markedly larger than those in surrounding areas, this does not prove that the juries in those cities are more liberal in their awards; it is not known whether the cases that are selected for trial in those areas are comparable to those selected for trial in the areas with lower awards. Moreover, absent an independent measure of the appropriate amount of damages in the relevant cases, it cannot be determined whether the higher-award jurisdictions are unduly plaintiff-friendly or whether, instead, the lower-award jurisdictions are unduly defense-oriented.
30. F.A. Sloan and C.R. Hsieh, "Variability in Medical Malpractice Payments: Is the Compensation Fair?" Law and Society Review 24, no. 4 (1990): 997-1039.
31. S.S. Diamond, M.J. Saks, and S. Landsman, "Juror Judgments about Liability and Damages: Sources of Variability and Ways to Increase Consistency," DePaul Law Review 48, no. 2 (1998): 301-325; and R.R. Bovbjerg, FA. Sloan, and J.F. Blumstein, "Valuing Life and Limb in Tort: Scheduling 'Pain and Suffering,'" Northwestern University Law Review 83, no. 4 (1989): 908-976.
32. S.S. Diamond, M.J. Saks, and S. Landsman, "Juror Judgments about Liability and Damages: Sources of Variability and Ways to Increase Consistency," DePaul Law Review 48, no. 2 (1998): 301-325; and R.R. Bovbjerg, FA. Sloan, and J.F. Blumstein, "Valuing Life and Limb in Tort: Scheduling 'Pain and Suffering,'" Northwestern University Law Review 83, no. 4 (1989): 908-976.
33. M.J. Saks et al., "Reducing Variability in Civil Jury Awards," Law and Human Behavior 21, no. 3 (1997): 243-256.
34. Vidmar, Medical Malpractice.
35. Diamond et al., "Juror Judgments"; and Bovbjerg et al., "Valuing Life and Limb."
36. Diamond et al., "Juror Judgments"; and Bovbjerg et al., "Valuing Life and Limb."