Malpractice Litigation After Arthroscopy

Trends in malpractice litigation.

Physicians who make mistakes are not necessarily negligent, contrary to prevailing opinion in the medical community. The article discusses the legal concepts of "standard of care" and "proximate cause." The incidence of favorable jury verdicts in those cases in which malpractice suits are litigated is quite high. The effects of insurance company policies in decisions about settlements on the in...

Empirical evidence and malpractice litigation.

"Magical thinking," suicide, and malpractice litigation.

Prospective clinical assessment of suicidality differs significantly from that used retrospectively in malpractice litigation. In the latter context, the judge or jury may be susceptible to hindsight reasoning and a disproportionate emphasis on the specific method of suicide, exaggerating its foreseeability and "magically" linking the means of death to the treating clinician, especially in the ...

Does Improved Patient Safety Reduce Malpractice Litigation?

I n recent years, doctors and hospitals have become increasingly committed to improving patient safety. The publication of To Err Is Human in 2000, which trumpeted the scale of preventable injuries in the nation’s hospitals, helped launch the patient safety movement and spur innovative practices and technologies to reduce such injuries. Improved patient safety should also help reduce malpractic...

An Explosion in Medical Malpractice Litigation