Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2005

Abstract

In the past decade, the cost of medical malpractice insurance has skyrocketed in Pennsylvania. Physicians in high-risk specialties are reported to have moved out of the state, closed their practices, or retired, particularly in eastern Pennsylvania. Liability insurance companies have pulled out of the state. At the same time, serious medical errors continue to occur. Doctors and hospital officials, afraid of lawsuits and loss of insurance coverage, often stonewall patients and relatives, offering only barebones explanations of serious medical errors. Research shows this situation creates a vicious circle in which frustration, anger, and a search for information often motivate patients or their families to file medical malpractice suits.

Against this backdrop, the Project on Medical Liability in Pennsylvania, an independent initiative financed by The Pew Charitable Trusts, developed the Demonstration Mediation and ADR Project in 2002 to explore the value of mediation and open, frank communication about medical errors as a means to avoid bitter and protracted lawsuits. The demonstration project, designed and conducted by faculty of the Columbia Law School in New York, involved three hospitals in eastern Pennsylvania and was based on an extensive review of existing research.

Shortly after the demonstration project began, its potential findings gained significance because Pennsylvania enacted Section 308 of the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Act. This law, the first of its kind in the United States, requires hospitals to give written notice to patients or their family after a “serious event.” In effect, the state now obligates health care providers to explain the circumstances and repercussions of serious health complications caused by inpatient medical errors.

Disciplines

Law | Medical Jurisprudence

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