The economic consequences of medical injuries: implications for a no-fault insurance plan

Article Abstract:

No-fault medical accident insurance might not be any costlier than traditional malpractice insurance. The medical records of 794 New York residents who had been injured as a result of medical treatment in 1984 were analyzed. Each patient was interviewed in 1988 to determine the consequences of the injury in the intervening years. Most of the patients had suffered minor injuries, and two-thirds had returned to work. Doctors were able to estimate the costs associated with the injury, including medical care, lost wages and, for women, lost household work. These results were then generalized to the population of New York. Based on the sample patients, the total cost of compensable injuries in New York in 1989 under a no-fault insurance plan would be $1.02 billion, or $878 million with a six-month deductible. This compares favorably with the $1 billion in malpractice premiums paid by New York doctors and hospitals in 1988.

Models, Economic aspects, Wounds and injuries, Injuries, No-fault insurance, No fault insurance

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Identifying adverse events caused by medical care: degree of physician agreement in a retrospective chart review

Article Abstract:

There seems to be little agreement among doctors when pinpointing the causes of patient injuries while under medical care. A total of 127 doctors were paired and each independently reviewed 7,533 patient records with suspected malpractice. The percentage of review pairs who disagreed that the patient injuries resulted from inappropriate medical care (12.9%) outnumbered the percentage who agreed (10%). Review pairs were more in agreement when there were wound infections involved than when conditions were misidentified or were not treated. Experienced reviewers were more in agreement than inexperienced reviewers.

Analysis, Physicians, Medical professions, Beliefs, opinions and attitudes, Medical errors, Iatrogenic diseases

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Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: The nature of adverse events in hospitalized patients: results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study II. part 2

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