Persistence is not always a virtue: tort reform, civil liability for health care, and the lack of empirical evidence.
The efficacy of reforms in the civil system, including professional liability in the health care arena, depends upon the accuracy with which problems are defined. A growing empirical literature argues that the description of the civil justice system underlying the movement for tort reform in the health care arena is not an accurate one. Regardless, that description continues to be used successfully as the basis for a variety of enacted reforms. The interesting question now posed by some researchers is why that description persists despite its lack of empirical verification. This article summarizes the reformers' description; provides an overview of relevant empirical findings; and then draws on a theoretical literature in political science dealing with agenda-setting in the public policy process to answer that interesting question. The article concludes that the image persists because it is successful in a political, not rational, process in which appeals to emotion overshadow reasoned argument.
Daniels
S
S
American Bar Foundation, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Martin
J
J
D015984:Causality; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D016365:Liability, Legal; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D011057:Politics; D014481:United States