Malpractice litigation reform: empirical approaches to establishing the legal standard of care.
This article proposes that the legal standard of care in malpractice cases should be established through empirical methods rather than only with experts'subjective opinions. The authors outline and critique two approaches for doing so and explain the legal advantages and barriers to implementing these legal reforms. Basing the legal standard of care on evidence of actual physician behaviors and views would help to improve medical practice by reducing the need to engage in defensive medicine and by making it safer to institute quality improvement measures.
Hall
Mark A
MA
Wake Forest University School of Law, Winston-Salem, NC 27109-7206, USA. mhall@law.wfu.edu
Green
Michael D
MD
D003625:Data Collection; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D018166:Health Care Reform; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States