| Dropped medical malpractice claims: their surprising frequency, apparent causes, and potential remedies. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 21734209 Owner: NLM Status: In-Data-Review |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Most medical malpractice claims are neither settled nor adjudicated. Instead, they are abandoned by the plaintiffs who bring them. This study measured the frequency and cost of abandoned claims and gathered opinions from attorneys and other experts on why plaintiffs drop claims. Plaintiffs in the study abandoned 58.6 percent of claims against defendants, while settling only 26.6 percent and adjudicating 14.8 percent. Claims are not dropped because a large percentage of them are frivolous, but for other reasons. The most important is that as plaintiffs acquire more information in the course of a lawsuit, they often conclude that a claim is weaker than they had first thought. The author recommends that insurers and hospitals adopt new procedures to encourage both plaintiff attorneys and defense representatives to exchange information more efficiently, discuss the merits of malpractice cases more candidly, and resolve cases quickly. Such reforms would greatly reduce both the frequency and the duration of cases that are dropped, and thus the cost of malpractice litigation. |
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Authors:
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Dwight Golann |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Health affairs (Project Hope) Volume: 30 ISSN: 1544-5208 ISO Abbreviation: Health Aff (Millwood) Publication Date: 2011 Jul |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2011-07-07 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 8303128 Medline TA: Health Aff (Millwood) Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 1343-50 Citation Subset: IM |
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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