Monthly Archives: August 2010

There are some signs that the medical profession’s code of silence is retreating, but a recent Journal of the American Medical Association survey of 2,000 doctors reveals that only 64 percent of doctors agreed that they had an ethical obligation to report colleagues who were “significantly impaired or otherwise incompetent to practice.” Seventeen percent of [...]

A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that when hospitals and doctors admit their mistakes and offer immediate upfront compensation to their patients, they succeed in driving down their medical malpractice liability costs. The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) program studied by the researchers is truly remarkable. If UMHS discovers [...]

The Wall Street Journal’s Health blog reports today on a new study, carried out by the nonpartisan Society of Actuaries, that estimates the medical costs of medical errors at $19.5 billion annually in the United States. This blog has long noted how common medical errors are. More than half of pediatricians admit to making at [...]

At Concurring Opinions, Dave Hoffman discussed a working paper co-authored with Christina Boyd entitled, “Litigating toward Settlement,” that examines the factors that make a case more likely to reach a settlement. Among the conclusions reached: the more motions filed, the more likely settlement becomes (this is sort of counterintuitive because you might think the opposite [...]