Physicians’ Fears Of Malpractice Lawsuits Are Not Assuaged By Tort Reforms
- Emily R. Carrier ( [email protected] ) is a senior health researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change, in Washington, D.C.
- James D. Reschovsky is a senior health researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change.
- Michelle M. Mello is a professor of law and public health at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Ralph C. Mayrell is a research assistant at the Center for Studying Health System Change.
- David Katz is an associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa, in Iowa City.
Abstract
Physicians contend that the threat of malpractice lawsuits forces them to practice defensive medicine, which in turn raises the cost of health care. This argument underlies efforts to change malpractice laws through legislative tort reform. We evaluated physicians’ perceptions about malpractice claims in states where more objective indicators of malpractice risk, such as malpractice premiums, varied considerably. We found high levels of malpractice concern among both generalists and specialists in states where objective measures of malpractice risk were low. We also found relatively modest differences in physicians’ concerns across states with and without common tort reforms. These results suggest that many policies aimed at controlling malpractice costs may have a limited effect on physicians’ malpractice concerns.
