Beyond tort reform

Abstract

Organized medicine has spent a great deal of time, energy, and money attempting to revise the legal tort system. Yet, change, if any, has been incredibly slow. There are many reasons for this. Tort law has been a part of American jurisprudence for hundreds of years. In addition, most state legislatures are populated with large numbers of attorneys. This paper explores the economic factors that underlie the litigation process in medical negligence/malpractice cases. It suggests that the current tort system is not as antimedicine as physicians commonly believe, rather, it is physician-friendly. Presented here is a more efficient and cost-effective method of addressing medical negligence/malpractice cases. An exclusive relationship between the liability insurance carrier and a defense law firm is proposed. Rather than using the old billable hours system to charge for its services, the defense law firm negotiates a yearly retainer based upon a percentage of the annual liability insurance premiums paid. How this relationship would result in a more efficient and cost-effective approach to the present tort system is examined.