Medical Malpractice and the U.S. Health Care System [Hardcover]

This book connects medical liability to broader trends and goals in American health policy.This book goes well beyond the conventional debate over tort reform and connects medical liability to broader trends and goals in American health policy. Contributions from leading figures in health law and policy marshal the best available information, present new empirical evidence, and offer cutting-edge analysis of potential reforms.This book goes well beyond the conventional debate over tort reform and connects medical liability to broader trends and goals in American health policy. Contributions from leading figures in health law and policy marshal the best available information, present new empirical evidence, and offer cutting-edge analysis of potential reforms.Medical malpractice lawsuits are common and controversial in the United States. Since early 2002, doctors' insurance premiums for malpractice coverage have soared. As Congress and state governments debate laws intended to stabilize the cost of insurance, doctors continue to blame lawyers and lawyers continue to blame doctors and insurance companies. This book, which is the capstone of three years' comprehensive research funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, goes well beyond the conventional debate over tort reform and connects medical liability to broader trends and goals in American health policy. Contributions from leading figures in health law and policy marshal the best available information, present new empirical evidence, and offer cutting-edge analysis of potential reforms involving patient safety, liability insurance, and tort litigation.Part I. Framing Medical Malpractice as a Health Policy Issue: 1. The medical malpractice system: structure and performance Michelle M. Mello and David M. Studdert; 2. Malpractice reform as a health policy problem William M. Sage; 3. Medical malpractice and the new politics of health care Rogan Kersh; Part II. The Health Policy Impact of Medical Malpractice: 4. Who payl3�