Law Commons^™

Plaintiffs' Lawyers, Specialization, And Medical Malpractice, Stephen Daniels, Joanne Martin

Vanderbilt Law Review

Our interest is in medical malpractice as an area of specialized practice for plaintiffs' lawyers, and we want to explore this area because plaintiffs' lawyers are key actors in the medical malpractice system. An understanding of their role is necessary in identifying what problems may exist in this system and in evaluating both proposed and enacted solutions. Indeed, some reforms appear to be specifically aimed at plaintiffs' lawyers who handle medical malpractice cases-especially the repeat players whose experience and expertise may give them, and hence their clients, a strategic advantage.

Like most of the political rhetoric surrounding medical malpractice, the …

High-Deductible Health Plans: New Twists On Old Challenges From Tort And Contract, E. Haavi Morreim Ph.D.

Vanderbilt Law Review

In just a few decades American health care financing has, in a sense, come full circle. After being largely patient-financed in the early twentieth century, generous insurance coverage in mid-century largely permitted providers to do as they wished and charge what they pleased-an Artesian Well of Money that left patients and physicians well-insulated from the costs of care. That system's inevitable explosion of costs spurred urgent efforts to contain health care expenditures, as payors sought to control or at least influence medical decisions. In many ways this "managed care" was clinically vexatious and economically disappointing. Its medically intrusive tactics have …