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Medical Malpractice and the Tort System
Peter D. Jacobson, JD, MPH
JAMA. 1989;262(23):3320-3327.
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FEW TOPICS in health care policy generate more contentious commentary than medical malpractice. To some, the recent trend of increasing liability awards and malpractice insurance premiums is a major crisis that affects the organization and practice of medicine. To others, it is a sign that the medical profession has not yet developed adequate controls to sanction deviations from standard practice. In either case, the escalation in medical professional liability awards raises important public policy issues concerning the underlying reasons for the awards and the potential effects on medical practice and service delivery.
While the full dimension of the crisis is difficult to specify, rising malpractice insurance premiums and increased claim frequency and award severity have been, until recently, its primary manifestations. Various explanations for these trends have been proposed, with little agreement as to the nature or causes of the problem.1-8
Although lawyers, the legal system, the medical profession,
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
From the Behavioral Sciences Department, The RAND Corp, Santa Monica, Calif.
Footnotes
The conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The RAND Corp.
Reprint requests to the Behavioral Sciences Department, The RAND Corp, 1700 Main St, PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90404-2138 (Mr Jacobson).
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