Both Symptom and Disease: Relating Medical Malpractice to Health-Care Costs
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2012
Journal Title
Forum for Health Economics & Policy
ISSN
1558-9544
DOI
10.1515/fhep-2012-0010
Abstract
Tort reformers blame the high cost of American health care on defensive responses to rampant medical malpractice litigation. Defenders of the tort system counter that holding health care providers liable for negligence improves safety and ensures compensation for injury. The relationship between medical malpractice and health care expenditures is more complex than either of these positions reflects. The existing medical malpractice system increases medical spending mainly because it has evolved in tandem with other inflationary features of the health care system and may make those features even more difficult to change. In other words, medical malpractice is both a symptom of a costly health care system and a costly disease in its own right.
First Page
83
Last Page
106
Num Pages
24
Volume Number
15
Issue Number
2
Publisher
De Gruyter
Recommended Citation
William M. Sage,
Both Symptom and Disease: Relating Medical Malpractice to Health-Care Costs,
15
F. for Health Econ. & Pol'y
83
(2012).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1696