Consumer Law

The Safer A Hospital Is, The Less Often It Gets Sued

By Justinian Lane

Who ever would have guessed that the less often a hospital commits an error, the less it gets sued:

Reducing the number of preventable patient injuries in California hospitals from 2001 to 2005 was associated with a corresponding drop in malpractice claims against physicians, according to a study issued today by the RAND Corporation.

. . . .

More important, the study found a significant connection between the annual frequency of adverse events in each county, and the number of malpractice claims made. For example, under the model created by researchers, a county that experienced 10 fewer safety events in a given year would also expect to see a reduction of 3.7 malpractice claims during the same year, said study co-author Amelia Haviland, a RAND statistician

Source: RAND | News Release | Better Patient Safety Linked to Fewer Medical Malpractice Claims in California

I know this may be a crazy suggestion? but maybe? just maybe? the medical profession should focus on preventing adverse events from occurring, rather than focusing on limiting their liability when the events do occur.

Frequent TortDeform contributor Lee Tilson has been trying to get the medical profession to do this for years.  Surprisingly, he hasn?t made a lot of friends in the medical profession.  Apparently, doctors would rather fight for tort ?reform? than fight for the safety of their patients.  For those who say that the medical profession DOES focus enough on patient safety, I ask you why errors like wrong site surgeries still occur.

Full post as published by TortDeform.com on April 15, 2010 (boomark / email).