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Implications of Cerebral Palsy Litigation

Alastair MacLennan, MD; Karin B. Nelson, MD; Gary Hankins, MD; Michael Speer, MD

JAMA. 2005;294:1688-1690.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

It has never been safer to have a baby and never more dangerous to be an obstetrician. In a recent survey, 76% of obstetricians in the United States reported having faced litigation at some point in their careers—most often for having allegedly caused cerebral palsy (CP).¹ Similar trends have been seen in Australia, where the 2% of physicians who are obstetricians are now associated with 18% of the cost of all medical indemnity claims.^2-3 The median award for "medical negligence in childbirth cases" is $2.3 million.⁴ Consequently, obstetricians pay some of the highest premiums for malpractice insurance—up to $200 000 per year in some states. These figures might seem to indicate an epidemic of errors in the delivery room, except that the common assumption that obstetric caregivers can prevent CP by actions taken during labor and delivery is . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Better Self-Policing by the Medical Profession

Author Affiliations: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia (Dr MacLennan); Neuroepidemiology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md (Dr Nelson); Department of Obstetrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston (Dr Hankins); and Section of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tex (Dr Speer).

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RELATED LETTERS

Cerebral Palsy Litigation
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JAMA. 2006;295(6):625-626.
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Cerebral Palsy Litigation—Reply
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Cerebral Palsy Litigation
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