IN medical malpractice litigation, negligence is the predominant theory of liability. The basic elements of a malpractice claim are duty, negligence, causation, and damage. Duty refers to the practitioners responsibility to treat a patient according to the standard of care. Negligence is defined by law as a deviation from the accepted standard of care and, therefore, a breach of duty. Causation...

Malpractice reforms tend to reduce physician liability for harming patients. Because these reforms are passed at the state level, the costs of harming patients vary widely by geographic location. In this paper, I test whether malpractice reforms affect where physicians choose to practice and whether physicians who relocate in response to reforms are particularly prone to commit malpractice. Bec...

PROFESSIONAL liability insurance has become society's chief agency for the distribution of the cost of malpractice by the medical profession. It is quite natural that the medical practitioner, conscious of the possibility of a ruinous malpractice judgment, should seek the protection of insurance. Several factors indicate that this segment of the insurance industry will grow rapidly in the futur...

BACKGROUND Electronic health records (EHRs) may improve patient safety and health care quality, but the relationship between EHR adoption and settled malpractice claims is unknown. METHODS Between June 1, 2005, and November 30, 2005, we surveyed a random sample of 1884 physicians in Massachusetts to assess availability and use of EHR functions, predictors of use, and perceptions of medical pr...

OBJECTIVE An analysis of paid malpractice claims judged in court compared with those settled out of court may help explain perceptions of malpractice risk. DESIGN A retrospective analysis and cross-sectional comparison of malpractice claims. Evaluated trends in the number and proportion of paid claims, and mean payment amount by resolution type; identified patient, physician and claim charact...

As the policy debate over the medical malpractice insurance crisis continues, dueling claims about its causes and suggestions for policy solutions have highlighted the need for a better understanding of how medical malpractice insurance works, why premiums change and what can be done about it. This primer on malpractice insurance discusses these issues and also analyzes the causes of and potent...

Forensic psychiatrists are not as vulnerable to liability as general psychiatrists. The absence of a traditional physician-patient relationship and judicial and quasijudicial immunity are all protective against malpractice actions. Although the absence of a doctor-patient relationship removes an essential element of malpractice, other types of liability such as defamation and ordinary negligenc...

In 1975, and now again in 1985, there has arisen a public perception of a "malpractice crisis." ' The crisis, then and now, principally troubles physicians, who believe that liability insurance premiums are too high. A crisis seen through the eyes of doctors and measured in premium dollars naturally generates responses evaluated in terms of effect on premiums. The needs of patients and consumer...

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...