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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. …