The Welfare Effects of Medical Malpractice Liability.

ABSTRACT: We use variation in the generosity of local juries to identify the causal impact of medical malpractice liability on social welfare. Growth in malpractice payments contributed at most 5 percentage points to the 33% total real growth in medical expenditures from 1990-2003. On the other hand, malpractice leads to modest mortality reductions; the value of these more than likely exceeds the costs of malpractice liability. Therefore, reducing malpractice liability is unlikely to have a major impact on health care spending, and unlikely to be cost-effective over conventionally accepted values of a statistical life.

SUBMITTER: Lakdawalla DN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3601788 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature