Damages Caps in Medical Malpractice Cases

Abstract

This article reviews the empirical literature on the effects of damages caps and concludes that the better-designed studies show that damages caps reduce liability insurance premiums. The effects of damages caps on defensive medicine, physicians' location decisions, and the cost of health care to consumers are less clear. The only study of whether consumers benefit from lower health insurance premiums as a result of damages caps found no impact. Some state courts have based decisions declaring damages caps legislation unconstitutional on the lack of evidence of their effectiveness, thereby ignoring the findings of conflicting research studies or discounting their relevance. Although courts should be cautious in rejecting empirical evidence that caps are effective, legislators should consider whether they benefit consumers enough to justify limiting tort recoveries for those most seriously injured by malpractice.

Estimating the Effect of Damages Caps in Medical Malpractice Cases: Evidence from Texas

“…We relied principally on a table prepared byNelson, Morrissey, and Kilgore (2007), available at http://images.main.uab.edu/isoph/LHC/DamagesCapsTable.pdf and on communication with Meredith Kilgore about changes since the table was prepared. For Texas, we observe only post-death-cap payouts, and thus lack the data to study how the Texas death cap affects payouts.…”

Rodzaje odpowiedzialności lekarza za błędy medyczne w ramach umowy o pracę oraz umowy cywilnoprawnej

“…An error in medical practice is an act (omission) Kamila Kocańda, Types of physician's liability for medical errors incompatible with medical science in the field available to the physician [23].…”

“…Each physician is required to perform his profession in accordance with current medical knowledge, available methods and means of prevention, diagnosis and treatment, in accordance with principles of professional ethics and due diligence [24,25].…”

Do damages caps reduce medical malpractice insurance premiums? A systematic review of estimates and the methods used to produce them

“…As this evidence accumulated, researchers began to produce literature reviews, drawing general conclusions from the numerous studies. Our search 9 revealed seven relevant reviews: OTA, 1993;CBO, 2004;Kessler, 2006;Emmons, 2005 and (discussed as a single study); Nelson et al, 2007;Studdert and Mello, 2004, Mello, 2006, Mello and Kachalia, 2010, and Kachalia and Mello, 2011 (discussed as a single study 10 ); and RAND, 2011.…”

“…U.S. states began implementing tort reforms during the mid-1970s, with subsequent waves of reforms in the mid1980s and early-2000s (Mello, 2006;Nelson et al, 2007). One of the most popular reforms, caps on damages available at trial, has taken center stage.…”