Minimising medical litigation: a review of key tort and legal reforms

Abstract

The traditional tort system in medical malpractice is increasingly perceived as being incapable of addressing the mismatch between claims and negligent injuries. Tort reforms have been introduced in various developed countries in an attempt to bring about greater fairness and economic sustainability in the compensation of medical injuries and to reduce the overall rate of medical litigation. This paper reviews the key tort reforms that have been used in various countries, notably the US and the UK, and discusses the arguments that had been put forth by advocates and opponents of such reforms. The impact of these tort reforms, where studied and available, is also reviewed and discussed in the paper.

National trends and cost of litigation in UK National Health Service (NHS): a specialty-specific analysis from the past decade

“…One initiative to reduce pay-outs within the UK was the introduction of an initial mediation session between parties. 38 Some states in the US have gone further with their tort reform and applied a limit to lawyer fees 38 and a loser-pays principleto prevent frivolous lawsuits. 39 Furthermore, 'no-fault' compensation has been implemented in other countries, where it is deemed that a clinical injury may not result from the fault of an individual but rather from system errors.…”

“…39 Furthermore, 'no-fault' compensation has been implemented in other countries, where it is deemed that a clinical injury may not result from the fault of an individual but rather from system errors. 38 The 'no-fault' scheme was rejected by critics in the UK in 1978, but there have been calls to re-instate it. 40 Aside from legal reform, a better understanding of the motivation of patients who decide to take legal action against the NHS could be reviewed to provide greater clarity in resolving this issue.…”

It's time to eliminate tort from the management of medical mishaps in the National Health Service

“…The performance of a tort-based medical liability system pleases almost no-one, whether the metric is efficient, compensation is delivered accurately or there is effective deterrence or improvement in the safety of care [16]. Past attempts at tort reform have been designed to address the costs and sustainability of the claims process rather than improve clinical performance or the safety of care delivered [17].…”