Tuesday, June 30, 2009 :::
 

A study led by David Studdert published in the 2006 New England Journal of Medicine concluded that the administrative expenses of the malpractice system were "exorbitant." And worse, it found errors in jury verdicts in about a quarter of the litigated cases. Juries denied compensation properly due in 16% of the cases, and awarded it about 10% of the time when it was unwarranted. These error rates don't include damage awards set at improper levels.

More disturbingly, a careful 1992 study by Donald Dewees and Michael Trebilcock in the Osgood Hall Law Journal concluded that the frequency of medical malpractice in Canada was about the same as in the U.S. -- for about 10% the total cost. In other words, our costly system doesn't seem to do much to deter malpractice. On medical malpractice at least, Canada does better than we do.

Epstein, in the WSJ. While I certainly don't think we should emulate Canadian health care in all the particulars, I'm certainly willing to learn from bits that work better than what we have, such as a loser-pays tort system and certain reasonableness checks on pain-and-suffering awards.

::: posted by dWj at 9:28 PM

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