The effect of care quality on medical malpractice litigation |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Economics, Wayne State University, Department of Economics, 2115 F.A.B., Detroit, MI 48202, USA;1. Department of Neurosurgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China;2. Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China;1. Neurosurgery Division, NESMOS Department, Sapienza, Sant''Andrea University Hospital, Roma, Italy;2. Neurosurgery Division, IRCCS NEUROMED, Sapienza, Pozzilli (IS), Italy;3. Neurosurgery Division, Medico-Surgical Science Department, Sapienza, Roma, Italy;1. Department of Radiology, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China;2. Department of Radiology, Fujian Cancer Hospital & Fujian Medical University Cancer Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian, China;3. School of Medical Technology and Engineering, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China;4. Department of Management Science, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA;1. Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA;2. Global Neurosurgery Initiative-Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA;3. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA;4. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA;5. Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA;6. Department of Medicine, Catholic University of Bukavu, Bukavu, Congo;7. Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya |
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| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect on medical malpractice litigation of the quality of the medical care provided by the defendant. Our data set includes measures of the quality of the defendant’s medical care. We explore the extent to which information about care quality or negligence is incorporated in three evaluations of the plaintiff’s claim, each based on a different amount of information: (1) the initial reserve, chosen by the risk manager when he first learns of the existence of the claim; (2) the mediation award, made after a hearing, and after pretrial discovery is under way or completed; and (3) the settlement payment, made after the parties have acquired all the information they think it is worthwhile to acquire. We develop a simple model of the correlation between estimates (1) and (2) and the settlement payment.We find that the initial reserve provides no information about care quality. Several alternative measures indicate that the mediation award includes substantial information about the quality of care, but less than that reflected in the settlement payment. Given the recent growth in the use of methods of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation, it is important to learn how well these methods determine whether the care at issue meets the legal standard. Thus our finding that the mediation award includes substantial information about care quality may be our most interesting result. |
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