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Previous Volume 350:283-292 January 15, 2004 Number 3 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Few issues in health care spark as much ire and angst as medical-malpractice litigation. Physicians revile malpractice claims as random events that visit unwarranted expense and emotional pain on competent, hardworking practitioners. Commentators lament the "lawsuit lottery," which provides windfalls for some patients, but no compensation for the vast majority of patients injured by medical care.^1,2 Within the health care industry, there is a nearly universal belief that malpractice litigation has long since surpassed sensible levels and that major tort reform is overdue.

Yet the drive to litigate continues. Plaintiffs' attorneys and some consumer groups interpret providers' grievances as little . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Framework and Goals of the System

The Evolution of Malpractice Litigation

Empirical Research on the Malpractice System

Is the New Crisis New?

The Two Cultures: Malpractice Law and Patient Safety

Tort Reform

Reform of the System

Source Information

From the Harvard School of Public Health (D.M.S., M.M.M., T.A.B.) and Harvard Medical School (T.A.B.) — both in Boston.

Related Letters:

Medical Malpractice
Herbert R. A., Lieblich L. M.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2004; 350:1798, Apr 22, 2004. Correspondence

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