Health and Medical Administration Commons^™

Allowing Patients To Waive The Right To Sue For Medical Malpractice: A Response To Thaler And Sunstein, Tom Baker, Timothy D. Lytton

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay critically evaluates Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s proposal to allow patients to prospectively waive their rights to bring a malpractice claim, presented in their recent, much acclaimed book, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness. We show that the behavioral insights that undergird Nudge do not support the waiver proposal. In addition, we demonstrate that Thaler and Sunstein have not provided a persuasive cost-benefit justification for the proposal. Finally, we argue that their liberty-based defense of waivers rests on misleading analogies and polemical rhetoric that ignore the liberty and other interests served by patients’ tort law rights. …

Ferric Gluconate Yields Cost-Savings In Hemodialysis Patients With High Ferritin And Low Tsat: Results From The Drive Studies, Laura T. Pizzi, Thomas J. Bunz, David S. Goldfarb, Daniel W. Coyne, Ajay K. Singh

College of Population Health Lectures, Presentations, Workshops

Purpose: One third of hemodialysis patients have high serum ferritin levels and low transferrin saturation (TSAT). The purpose of this analysis was to determine the cost effectiveness of administering 1g of sodium ferric gluconate complex (SFGC: also referred to as ferric gluconate) to patients with serum ferritin >500ng/mL and TSAT ≤25% based on the Dialysis Patients Response to IV Iron with Elevated Ferritin (DRIVE) study and its 6-week observational extension (DRIVE-II). In these studies, IV iron administration resulted in reduced epoetin requirements.

Methods: Decision analysis was performed using a time horizon of 12 weeks, consistent with the combined duration of …

The Price Of Palliative Care: Towards A Complete Accounting Of Costs And Benefits, Alexander A. Boni-Saenz, David Dranove, Linda L. Emanuel, Anthony T. Lo Sasso

All Faculty Scholarship

The costs and benefits of hospice and palliative care have recently received attention for many compelling reasons. First, the cost of medical care over a lifetime is largely expended near the end-of-life. The impending demographic bulge of aging baby boomers will only heighten concerns about costs. Second, hospice and palliative care have been offered as potential vehicles for reducing late-in-life spending. Third, palliative care has gained legitimacy as a distinct medical specialty, having as it does a characteristic philosophy, specialized skill sets, and specific service delivery needs. This philosophy of care is consistent with and, to some degree, builds on …