W<scp>HAT </scp> D<scp>RIVES </scp> T<scp>ORT </scp> R<scp>EFORM </scp> L<scp>EGISLATION? </scp> A<scp>N </scp> A<scp>NALYSIS OF </scp> S<scp>TATE </scp> D<scp>ECISIONS TO </scp> R<scp>ESTRICT </scp> L<scp>IABILITY </scp> T<scp>ORTS</scp>

Deng, Yiling; Zanjani, George

doi:10.1111/jori.12186

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…The Northeast is considered to be generally a typically more litigious region, with a lower percentage of states that implemented tort reform. 12 Unlike New York, the states of Texas and Florida choose to limit noneconomic damages awarded due to claims. In this study, the most common reasons for allegations of malpractice were failure to diagnose (n = 32; 68.1%), surgical complications (n = 9; 19.1%), and negligent follow-up care (n = 5; 10.6%) (Table 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical malpractice and meningiomas: an analysis of 47 cases

Boyke

Bader

Naidu

et al. 2020

Neurosurgical Focus

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OBJECTIVEAmong medical practices, surgical fields, including neurosurgery, are at a high risk for medical malpractice litigation. With meningiomas contributing to 10% of the total neurosurgery litigation cases, the aim of this study was to identify demographic characteristics, reasons for litigation, and surgical complications commonly reported in these cases. This analysis serves to increase neurosurgeons’ awareness of factors associated with medical malpractice litigation.METHODSThe online legal database Westlaw was utilized to query public litigation cases related to the medical management of meningiomas between December 1985 and May 2020. Variables extracted included the following: plaintiff and defendant demographics, litigation category, plaintiff medical complaints, and trial outcomes. The authors compared these characteristics between cases with decisions in favor of the defendant and those with decisions in favor of the plaintiff.RESULTSA total of 47 cases met the inclusion criteria. Failure to diagnose (68.1%) was the most common type of malpractice claim, and surgical complications (19.1%), motor weakness (33%), and financial loss (33%) were cited as the most common postoperative complaints. Individual specialties that most often required defense due to malpractice claims were radiology (21.7%) and neurosurgery (19.6%). The jury verdict was in favor of the defense in 51.1% of cases and in favor of the plaintiff in 27.7% of cases. A settlement was reached in 19.1% of cases. The mean payout for a verdict in favor of the plaintiff was $3,409,650.22, while the mean payout for settlements was $867,555.56. The greatest average payout for specialties was in neurosurgery at $3,414,400, followed by radiology at $3,192,960. Cases with a verdict in favor of the plaintiff were more likely to involve an internal medicine physician as a defendant (p = 0.007).CONCLUSIONSOver one-half of the cases resulted in a defendant’s verdict with failure to diagnose cited as the most common reason for litigation. Radiology and neurosurgery were the most common specialties for legal cases and also had some of the largest average payouts based on specialty. Motor weakness and financial loss were the most common plaintiff postoperative complaints. These findings may inform surgeons on active measures to take, such as increasing focus on diagnostic accuracy and reducing specific postoperative complaints, such as motor weakness, through risk management and prophylactic measures, to reduce unfavorable legal outcomes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical malpractice and meningiomas: an analysis of 47 cases

Boyke

Bader

Naidu

et al. 2020

Neurosurgical Focus

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“…13 Several pieces of evidence suggest that tort reforms are not related to specific trends in medical care, which is crucial for the empirical analysis. First, political factors, such as the political power of the Republican party, appear to be the main drivers of tort reform, whereas physician associations do not play an important role (Deng & Zanjani, 2018;Matter & Stutzer, 2016). Second, most tort reforms affect all kinds of torts equally and are not limited to medical malpractice cases.…”

Section: Tort Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do doctors prescribe antibiotics out of fear of malpractice?

Panthöfer

2022

J Empirical Legal Studies

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This paper studies whether doctors prescribe antibiotics to protect themselves against potential malpractice claims. Using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey on a representative sample of doctor visits from 1993 to 2011, I find that doctors are significantly less likely to prescribe antibiotics following tort reforms that reduce malpractice pressure. The changing prescribing patterns appear to have no adverse effects on patient health outcomes over the same time period. Almost 100 million hospital records from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample reveal little to no effects of tort reforms on hospital stays involving conditions that can potentially be avoided through the timely use of antibiotics. Taken together, these findings suggest that malpractice pressure induces doctors to prescribe antibiotics that are medically unnecessary, thereby contributing to the rise in antibiotic resistance.

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