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Full-Text Articles in Law
Do Damages Caps Reduce Medical Malpractice Insurance Premiums?: A Systematic Review Of Estimates And The Methods Used To Produce Them, Kathryn Zeiler, Lorian E. Hardcastle
Do Damages Caps Reduce Medical Malpractice Insurance Premiums?: A Systematic Review Of Estimates And The Methods Used To Produce Them, Kathryn Zeiler, Lorian E. Hardcastle
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Despite common claims made in policy debates, the theoretical connection between tort reform and medical malpractice insurance premiums is ambiguous. Simple models suggest reforms such as statutory damages caps reduce premiums. More elaborate models that account for changes in physician behavior suggest caps might increase or have no impact on premiums. A number of empirical studies have been conducted to estimate the impacts of caps on premiums, and several qualitative literature reviews have attempted to draw general conclusions from the literature. No review, however, has offered a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the full set of empirical studies. This chapter …
Turning From Damage Caps To Information Disclosure: An Alternative To Tort Reform, Kathryn Zeiler
Turning From Damage Caps To Information Disclosure: An Alternative To Tort Reform, Kathryn Zeiler
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Medical malpractice damage caps are among the most popular instruments of tort reform at the state level. The Bush administration proposed a federal damage cap on non-economic damages to quell the rise of medical malpractice insurance premiums despite the paucity of empirical evidence demonstrating that damage caps actually decrease premiums. This case study argues that imposing statutory caps on medical malpractice damages is not an effective method of remedying the medical malpractice insurance crisis: therefore, policymakers should consider alternatives to damage caps. In particular, evidence suggests that implementing mandatory disclosure of the contract terms between managed care organizations and physicians …
Loss, Heidi Li Feldman
Loss, Heidi Li Feldman
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Within Republican political circles, numerous state legislatures, and even the U.S. Congress, advocating caps on "noneconomic" damages in tort suits is in vogue, as part of the ongoing politics of "tort reform." Yet, the distinction between "economic" and "noneconomic" damages is nonsensical. It does not originate in the discipline of economics, but seems instead to be purely a rhetorical invention of those who wish to limit damages by any means politically possible. But law reform based on sheer rhetoric should be shunned; unprincipled rhetoric is no substitute for justificatory reasons, and to make laws without reasons exemplifies arbitrariness and injustice. …
Book Review: Deforming Tort Reform, Joseph A. Page
Book Review: Deforming Tort Reform, Joseph A. Page
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
The storms buffeting the tort system over the past two decades have come in three distinct waves. In the late 1960s, steep increases in the insurance costs incurred by health care providers protecting against negligence claims by patients triggered what came to be known as the "medical malpractice crisis." In the mid-1970s, manufacturers whose liability insurance premiums suddenly soared raised obstreperous complaints that called public attention to the existence of a "product liability crisis." Finally, other groups whose activities created risks exposing them to lawsuits found that their liability insurance rates had also risen precipitously. A full-blown "torts crisis" was …