This toolkit contains the elements needed to understand the problem of medical malpractice in America today, and whether alternative dispute resolution (i.e., arbitration) clauses might be viable among other tort reform options. The toolkit introduces medical liability as an intrinsic component...

Through an analysis of medical malpractice votes, a measure of economic efficiency was found to be a statistically significant contributor to a vote for medical malpractice reform. This paper argues that vote models should include such a measure as a supplement to traditional measures of...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 tackles many health care-related issues, but medical malpractice liability reform is not one of them. Despite being a perennial target of health care reform -- with accompanying assertions that a medical malpractice liability crisis is...

Background. This study is the first to quantify physicians' malpractice insurance limits. It also examines the connection between policy size and payments on claims, including the frequency of settlement at the policy limits and the frequency of out-of-pocket payments. Methods. Statistical...

Medical malpractice law and tort reform are contentious issues. In this paper we focus on Italy as an example of a civil law jurisdiction. Italian medical malpractice law is essentially judge-made law. However, its effectiveness is likely to be curtailed by excessive delays in litigation....

Current tort reforms cap awards for non-economic damages or make it difficult for plaintiffs to prevail in court. One of the justifications for these reforms is the high cost of positive defensive medicine, defined as physicians ordering more services than a stylized optimal level of care in...

The US and the EU recently introduced regulation to curb the extent of risky off-label drug use. It offers manufacturers a prolongation of patent protection or exclusivity if they invest in pediatric clinical tests. This paper shows that a reinforcement of physician liability for off-label use...

Social networks connect intimates, friends, and acquaintances that share history, strangers who share interests, or businesses and the customers they serve. This article explores how participation in online social networks blurs the boundaries between personal and professional relationships or...

How Japanese legal and social institutions handle medical errors is little known outside Japan. For almost all of the 20th century, a paternalistic paradigm prevailed. Characteristics of the legal environment affecting Japanese medicine included few attorneys handling medical cases, low...

Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi have adopted medical malpractice reform legislation in response to the three crises in medical liability insurance. In 1975, Louisiana adopted damages caps, created a patient compensation fund, and mandated the submission of claims to screening panels. In...