Medical Liability And Patient Safety

Authors

William M. Sage, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2003

Journal Title

Health Affairs

ISSN

0278-2715

DOI

10.1377/hlthaff.22.4.26

Abstract

Political debate over medical malpractice reform seldom takes meaningful account of its policy context, including the emerging science of patient safety. Instead, stakeholders on both sides use the rhetoric of patient safety to support entrenched positions on hardened proposals such as capping damages and limiting access to information about errors. Despite its déjà vu quality, the current malpractice crisis can only be understood and addressed as the product of changes in the health care system since the last crisis nearly twenty years ago—changes that also informed the patient safety movement. Patient safety may therefore serve as a bridge between medical liability and health policy.

First Page

26

Last Page

36

Num Pages

11

Volume Number

22

Issue Number

4

Publisher

Project HOPE

Recommended Citation

William M. Sage, Medical Liability And Patient Safety, 22 Health Affs. 26 (2003).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1734