Municipal Corporations: Tort Liability: Duty to Protect Police Informer

The duty to protect.

Privilege and confidentiality are central to the physician–patient relationship. These concepts are protected by law in almost all jurisdictions (1,2). Breaches of confidentiality have long been considered unethical and, in many situations, actionable. In this regard, physicians have been governed by their standards of practice, by the regulations of their professional colleges, and in many jur...

Who Pays for Tort Liability Claims? An Economic Analysis of the U.S. Tort Liability System

Limiting Tort Liability for Medical Malpractice

The past few years have seen a sharp increase in premiums for medical malpractice liability insurance, which health care professionals buy to protect themselves from the costs of being sued (see Figure 1 on page 2). On average, premiums for all physicians nationwide rose by 15 percent between 2000 and 2002—nearly twice as fast as total health care spending per person. The increases during that ...

Tort Liability Litigation Costs for Commercial Claims

This article analyzes tort liability litigation costs using the Texas Department of Insurance Commercial Liability Insurance Closed Claim database for the years 1988–2004. Insurer costs to defend claims in which a suit was filed average $35,000 per claim in 2004$, which corresponds to a share of 0.18 of total expenditures. Claims with higher stakes and complexity lead to greater reliance on out...

Tort Liability: a Minefield for Managed Care?

The restructuring of health insurance contracts and health care delivery systems under managed care is the result of competitive attempts to reduce the inefficiencies that developed in medical markets under traditional indemnity insurance. Liability rules that continue to apply norms of customary care threaten to undermine these potential efficiency gains. Liability rules under managed care sho...