Medical Liability/Medical Malpractice
Other National Resources

July 2005

• The Project on Medical Liability in Pennsylvania
  The project provides numerous reports and news items of interest to state policymakers.  NCSL is partnering with the Project to provide information services to state legislators and legislative staff: 
  http://medliabilitypa.org/
  
  The Project on Medical Liability in Pennsylvania is a project of the Pennsylvania Economy League, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts as an independent, impartial voice.  Through research, consultation and communications, the Project provides decision-makers and stakeholders with objective information about the ways in which medical, legal and insurance-related issues affect the medical liability system and about the relationship between medical liability and the overall health of the Commonwealth and its citizens.  For more information about the Project, contact the Pennsylvania Economy League at info@pelcapital.org or 717-234-3151.

• Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) report, "Health Care at the Crossroads:  Strategies for Improving the Medical Liability System and Preventing Patient Injury," 2005. 
  http://www.jcaho.org/news+room/press+kits/tort+reform/medical_liability.pdf

• Pennsylvania:  "Medical Professional Liability Reform in the 21st Century:  A Review of Policy Options,"  Report of the Advisory Committee on Medical Professional Liability, Joint State Government Commission, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, March 2005, 143 pages. This report provides background about the state's recurring medical liability crises and policy analyses of various reform strategies, including No-Fault, Screening Panels, Specialized Tribunals, and Arbitration and Mediation.  http://jsg.legis.state.pa.us/Med%20Mal.HTML

• Illinois State Bar Association: This is a study commissioned by the Illinois Bar Association to study med mal reform in Illinois.  It was done out of Duke University. (2005) http://www.isba.org/

• Texas Study.  "Stability, Not Crisis: Medical Malpractice Claim Outcomes in Texas, 1988-2002."  This 2005 study is by Bernard Black and Charles Silver (U. of Texas Law & Economics Research Paper No. 30); David Hyman (U. of Illinois Law & Economics Research Paper No. LE05-002); and William Sage (Columbia Law & Econ Research Paper No. 270).  It may be downloaded from the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) site:  http://ssrn.com/abstract=678601 (Note:  to download the paper, scroll down to " SSRN Edectronic Paper Collection" and click on one of the sources.)

• National Association of Insurance Commissioners Medical Malpractice Insurance Report: A Study of Market Conditions and Potential Solutions to the Recent Crisis (2004) (Note: fairly technical and more than 100 pages) http://www.naic.org/models_papers/papers/MMP-OP-04-EL.pdf

• GAO Report:  Medical Malpractice:  Implications of Rising Premiums on Access to Health Care, August 2003 (63 pages).
  http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03836.pdf
• GAO Report:  Medical Malpractice Insurance:  Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates, June 2003 (74 pages).
  http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03702.pdf
• National Governors Association Issue Brief:  Addressing the Medical Malpractice Crisis, Dec. 5, 2002 (15 pages).
  http://www.nga.org/cda/files/1102MEDMALPRACTICE.pdf

• Institute of Medicine, Fostering Rapid Advances in Health Care: Learning from System Demonstrations (2002).  See chapter 6:  "Liability:  Patient-Centered and Safety-Focused, Nonjudicial Compensation."
  http://www.nap.edu/books/0309087074/html/ 

• Medical Malpractice Insurance Net Premium and Incurred Loss - Summary of 1991-2001 trends in 50-state chart format. (2001)  http://www.naic.org/research/Research_Division/Stats/MEDMAL07-18-02.pdf

• Institute of Medicine Health Care Quality Initiative
  This page summarizes the IOM initiative and includes links to various reports, including, "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System." http://www.iom.edu/focuson.asp?id=8089

Advocacy organizations with recommendations about solving the medical liability issues:

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
  http://www.acog.org/
• American Medical Association (AMA)
  http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/6087.html
• American Trail Lawyers Association (ATLA)
  http://www.atla.org/ConsumerMediaResources/Tier3/press_room/FACTS/health/index.aspx
• Common Good, a bipartisan coalition that professes to be "dedicated to restoring common sense to American law."  http://cgood.org/
• Consumer Federation of America, an advocacy, research, education and service organization that works to advance pro-consumer policies.  From their homepage, use the search feature for "medical malpractice."  http://www.consumerfed.org/
• Progressive Policy Institute Policy Report:  Health Courts:  Fair and Reliable Justice for Injured Patients, February 2005 http://www.ppionline.org/documents/healthcourts_0217.pdf
• Public Citizen: Public Citizen's report on med mal through 2004.  http://www.citizen.org/congress/civjus/medmal/articles.cfm?ID=13309
• Sorry Works! Coalition, which calls for physicians to apologize for malpractice and for patients who experience malpractice to make quick, fair settlements out of court.  The coalition calls this a "middle ground" solution to the medical malpractice crisis.  http://www.sorryworks.net/

Featured Links

• Main Medical Liability/Medical Malpractice Page
• NCSL Resources