The courts as policy-makers : a medical malpractice case study

Notes in Search of an Enforceable Medical Malpractice Exculpatory Agreement: Introducing Confidential Contracts as a Solution to the Doctor-patient Relationship Problem

Scholars have argued that the malpractice system would be better off if patients had the option of waiving the right to sue for malpractice in exchange for a lower fee. Some doctors have tried to follow this advice by having their patients sign medical malpractice exculpatory agreements, but courts usually have refused to enforce these agreements, invoking a void-for-public-policy rationale. Th...

Health courts: an extreme makeover of medical malpractice with potentially fatal complications.

The Effects of Malpractice Tort Reform on Defensive Medicine

As the rising cost of malpractice threatens to reduce the number of hospitals and physicians in various states across the nation, policy-makers must examine the factors contributing to these crises. Beyond studying the symptoms of malpractice crises, such as increasing claims frequency and severity manifested through increasing malpractice premia, policy-makers must consider flaws within the ma...

"Health courts" and accountability for patient safety.

Proposals that medical malpractice claims be removed from the tort system and processed in an alternative system, known as administrative compensation or "health courts," attract considerable policy interest during malpractice "crises," including the current one. This article describes current proposals for the design of a health court system and the system's advantages for improving patient sa...

A Descriptive Analysis of Medical Malpractice Insurance Premiums, 1974-1977

The rapid increase in medical malpractice insurance claims and concomitant increases in premiums in the early 1970's concerned the medical and government communities. In 1974 alone, there was a 195 percent increase in malpractice suits filed in State courts (Federal Medical Malpractice Insurance Act, 1975). Major efforts to understand the nature of the "crisis" and its potential solutions inclu...