The risk of risk management

Fordham Law Review

Volumn 78, Issue 5, 2010, Pages 2315-2327

  Landsman, Stephan ^a  

^a DEPAUL UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77952677315     PISSN: 0015704X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (116)

1. CHARLES DICKENS, A TALE OF TWO CITIES 8 (Huber Gray Buehler & Lawrence Mason eds., The MacMillan Co. 1922) (1859).
2. Rita Henley Jensen, Minorities Didn't Share in Firm Growth, NAT'L L.J., Feb. 19, 1990, at 1.
3. See Robert W. Gordon, A Collective Failure of Nerve: The Bar's Response to Kaye Scholer, 23 LAW & Soc. INQUIRY 315 (1998);
4. William H. Simon, The Kaye Scholer Affair: The Lawyer's Duty of Candor and the Bar's Temptations of Evasion and Apology, 23 LAW & SOC. INQUIRY 243 (1998);
5. David B. Wilkins, Making Context Count: Regulating Lawyers After Kaye, Scholer, 66 S. CAL. L. REV. 1145 (1993).
6. See MILTON C. REGAN, JR., EAT WHAT YOU KILL: THE FALL OF A WALL STREET LAWYER (2004).
7. See John C. Coffee, Jr., Understanding Enron: "It's About the Gatekeepers, Stupid," 57 Bus. LAW. 1403 (2002);
8. Susan P. Koniak, Corporate Fraud: See, Lawyers, 26 HARV. J.L. & PUB. POL'Y 195 (2003);
9. Donald C. Langevoort, The Organizational Psychology of Hyper-competition: Corporate Irresponsibility and the Lessons of Enron, 70 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 968 (2002).
10. See generally Symposium, The Economic Downturn and the Legal Profession, 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 2051 (2010).
11. Anthony E. Davis, Legal Ethics and Risk Management: Complementary Visions of Lawyer Regulation, 21 GEO. J. LEGAL ETHICS 95, 98-99 (2008).
12. See Anthony V. Alfieri, The Fall of Legal Ethics and the Rise of Risk Management, 94 GEO. L.J. 1909, 1933-35 (2006).
13. See Davis, supra note 7, at 113-24.
14. See Alfieri, supra note 8, at 1933-40;
15. see also David B. Wilkins, Teams of Rivals? Toward a New Model of the Corporate Attorney-Client Relationship, 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 2067, 2120 (2010) ("[T]here is a danger that the 'risk management' perspective ⋯ will paradoxically diminish 'a lawyer's individual responsibility for making moral choices about his role in law and society'⋯."
16. (quoting Alfieri, supra note 8, at 1939)).
17. Alfieri, supra note 8, at 1910.
18. See Paul R. Frisch et al., Role of Previous Claims and Specialty on the Effectiveness of Risk-Management Education for Office-Based Physicians, 163 W.J. MED. 346, 348-50 (1995) (charting efficacy of risk management programs since 1979).
19. Steve S. Kraman & Ginny Hamm, Risk Management: Extreme Honesty May Be the Best Policy, 131 ANNALS INTERNAL MED. 963, 963 (1999).
20. R. B. Vukmir, Medical Malpractice: Managing the Risk, 23 MED. & L. 495, 497 (2004).
21. Jonathan R. Cohen, Apology and Organizations: Exploring an Example from Medical Practice, 27 FORDHAM URB. L.J. 1447, 1471 (2000).
22. Kraman & Hamm, supra note 13, at 966.
23. See Stephan Landsman, Reflections on Juryphobia and Medical Malpractice Reform, 57 DEPAUL L. REV. 221, 224-25 (2008).
24. See id. at 224-26.
25. Kraman & Hamm, supra note 13, at 966.
26. Anand Das et al., True Risk Management: Physicians' Liability Risk and the Practice of Patient-Centered Medicine, 18 J.L. & HEALTH 57, 65 (2003).
27. Kraman & Hamm, supra note 13, at 963.
28. Jonathan Todres, Toward Healing and Restoration for All: Reframing Medical Malpractice Reform, 39 CONN. L. REV. 667, 685 (2006).
29. Steve S. Kraman, A Risk Management Program Based on Full Disclosure and Trust: Does Everyone Win?, 27 COMPREHENSIVE THERAPY 253, 253 (2001).
30. See Marshall B. Kapp, Treating Medical Charts Near the End of Life: How Legal Anxieties Inhibit Good Patient Deaths, 28 U. TOL. L. REV. 521, 530 (2001).
31. See id. at 523;
32. Bryan A. Liang, The Adverse Event of Unaddressed Medical Error: Identifying and Filling the Holes in the Health-Care and Legal Systems, 29 J.L. MED. & ETHICS 346, 349 (1997).
33. See Lawrence J. Nelson & Ronald E. Cranford, Legal Advice, Moral Paralysis and the Death of Samuel Linares, 17 LAW MED. & HEALTH CARE 316, 321-23 (1989).
34. See id. at 316-17.
35. Id. at 316.
36. Factual material about the Linares case referred to in the text is drawn from Nelson & Cranford, supra note 26, unless otherwise noted.
37. See id.
38. See id.
39. See id.
40. See id. at 317-21.
41. See id. at 316, 320.
42. See Kapp, supra note 24, at 526-28.
43. See id. at 528-30.
44. Gere B. Fulton, The "Non-declarant" in a PVS: Adventures in Ohio's Legal Wonderland, 20 OHIO N.U.L. REV. 571, 581 (1994) (alteration in original).
45. See Kapp, supra note 24, at 525.
46. Id. at 532.
47. Kratnan & Hamm, supra note 13, at 963.
48. Kapp, supra note 24, at 524 (footnote omitted).
49. See generally Timothy E. Quill, Risk Taking by Physicians in Legally Gray Areas, 57 ALB. L. REV. 693 (1994). I am deeply indebted to the dedicated hospice workers of the Hospice by the Sea in Boca Raton, Florida, who eased my mother's passing in the summer of 2009.
50. See Jonathan R. Cohen, Advising Clients To Apologize, 72 S. CAL. L. REV. 1009 (1999);
51. Cohen, supra note 15, at 1447;
52. Kraman & Hamm, supra note 13, at 963;
53. Landsman, supra note 17, at 228-29.
54. Kraman, supra note 23, at 254.
55. See Randall R. Bovbjerg & Laurence R. Tancredi, Liability Reform Should Make Patients Safer: "Avoidable Classes of Events" Are a Key Improvement, 33 J.L. MED. & ETHICS 478, 482 (2005);
56. Cohen, supra note 15, at 1473-74.
57. See Kraman & Hamm, supra note 13, at 964-66 & fig.;
58. Charles Vincent et al., Why Do People Sue Doctors? A Study of Patients and Relatives Taking Legal Action, 343 LANCET 1609, 1612 & tbl.5 (1994).
59. See Kraman & Hamm, supra note 13, at 964.
60. See id. at 965.
61. See generally Peter Geier, Emerging Med-Mal Strategy: 'I'm Sorry', NAT'L L.J. July 17, 2006, at 1.
62. See Bovbjerg & Tancredi, supra note 44, at 482. This responsibility is grounded in the American Medical Association's declaration that doctors have an ethical duty to "at all times deal honestly and openly with patients [and provide them] all the facts necessary to ensure understanding of what has occurred [so that they will] be 'able to make informed decisions regarding future medical care.'"
63. Id.
64. accord Das et al., supra note 20, at 67-68.
65. Kraman & Hamm, supra note 13, at 963.
66. Das et al., supra note 20, at 65.
67. Kraman, supra note 23, at 254
68. (citing Cohen, supra note 15, at 27).
69. See Liang, supra note 25, at 357-58.
70. See Maxine M. Harrington, Revisiting Medical Error: Five Years After the IOM Report, Have Reporting Systems Made a Measureable Difference?, 15 HEALTH MATRIX 329, 330 (2005);
71. Liang, supra note 25, at 357-60.
72. See Paul Barach, The End of the Beginning: Lessons Learned from the Patient Safety Movement, 24 J. LEGAL MED. 7, 20-21 (2003);
73. Landsman, supra note 17, at 234;
74. Liang, supra note 25, at 357-58.
75. COMM. ON QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE IN AM., INST, OF MED., TO ERR IS HUMAN: BUILDING A SAFER HEALTH SYSTEM (Linda T. Kohn et al. eds., 2000) [hereinafter To ERR IS HUMAN].
76. Id. at 26.
77. See Drew E. Altaian et al., Improving Patient Safety-Five Years After the IOM Report, 351 NEW ENG. J. MED. 2041, 2042-43 (2004);
78. Bovbjerg & Tancredi, supra note 44, at 478;
79. Harrington, supra note 54, at 331;
80. Lucian L. Leape & Donald M. Berwick, Five Years After To Err Is Human: What Have We Learned?, 293 JAMA 2384, 2385-90 (2005).
81. Bovbjerg & Tancredi, supra note 44, at 478.
82. See supra notes 18-22 and accompanying text.
83. See Todres, supra note 22, at 676-77.
84. Liang, supra note 25, at 348.
85. Landsman, supra note 17, at 224-25.
86. See V. CLAYTON SHERMAN, CREATING THE NEW AMERICAN HOSPITAL 116-36 (1993) (discussing streamlined management systems and how the best departments should be rewarded with more responsibility).
87. See CHIP CALDWELL, GREG BUTLER & NANCY POSTON, LEAN-SIX SIGMA FOR HEALTHCARE 81-114 (2d ed. 2009) (discussing how managers who reduce waste in their departments enhance their role within the organizational structure and make themselves more valuable members of the organization).
88. See generally V. CLAYTON SHERMAN, RAISING STANDARDS IN AMERICAN HEALTH CARE 193-214 (1999) (acknowledging the need for recognition of hospital departments and staff that undertake tough projects and succeed).
89. See Hillary Rodham Clinton & Barack Obama, Making Patient Safety the Centerpiece of Medical Liability Reform, 354 NEW ENG. J. MED. 2205, 2205 (2006).
90. See Das et al., supra note 20, at 65;
91. Kapp, supra note 24, at 537-46;
92. Liang, supra note 25, at 349;
93. Nelson & Cranford, supra note 26, at 321.
94. See Quill, supra note 41.
95. See Kapp, supra note 24, at 542-43.
96. See id. at 543.
97. See id. at 524.
98. Ellen Wertheimer, Calling It a Leg Doesn 't Make It a Leg: Doctors, Lawyers, and Tort Reform, 13 ROGER WILLIAMS U. L. REV. 154, 158 (2008).
99. See supra note 68 and accompanying text.
100. See generally NAT'L CONFERENCE OF BAR EXAM'RS & AM. BAR ASS'N SECTION OF LEGAL EDUC. AND ADMISSIONS TO THE BAR, COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO BAR ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS (2010), available at http://www.ncbex.org/fileadmin/mediafiles/ downloads/Comp-Guide/CompGuide-2010.pdf.
101. Rachel M. Zahorsky, Clients, Law Firms Get 'Savage' As Legal Malpractice Claims Increase, A.B.A. J., Feb. 17, 2009, http://www.abajoumal.com/news/ article/clients-law-firms-get-savage-as-legal-malpractice-claims-increase/.
102. See Canterbury v. Spence, 464 F.2d 772, 779-83 (D.C. Cir. 1972).
103. Vincent R. Johnson & Shawn M. Lovorn, Misrepresentation by Lawyers About Credentials or Experience, 57 OKLA. L. REV. 529, 568-76 (2004).
104. See generally David A. Grossbaum & Marian C. Rice, The Art of Risk Management for Lawyers Representing Lawyers, 76 DEF. COUNS. J. 405 (2009).
105. See Das et al., supra note 20, at 65.
106. See generally Grena Porto-Spillmann, Analyzing the Needs of the Institution and Establishing a Risk Management Department, in ESSENTIALS OF HOSPITAL RISK MANAGEMENT 11-30 (Barbara J. Youngberg ed., 1990) (supporting the notion that risk management departments, if necessary, can shape a state's regulatory requirements).
107. See To ERR IS HUMAN, supra note 56;
108. Liang, supra note 25, at 347.
109. See Liang, supra note 25, at 347.
110. See supra notes 14-22 and accompanying text.
111. See David A. Hyman, A Second Opinion on Second Opinions, 84 VA. L. REV. 1439, 1454 &n.70 (1998).
112. See Nelson & Cranford, supra note 26, at 321.
113. For some of the limiting effects of risk management in the legal context see Alfieri, supra note 8, at 1933-40.
114. See supra note 62 and accompanying text.
115. MODEL RULES OF PROF'L CONDUCT R. 1.3 cmt. 1 (2007).
116. See supra note 40 and accompanying text.