Abstract
Especially in surgical specialties, there is continually increasing physician involvement in medical malpractice litigation across the United States. The 1970s “medical malpractice crisis” sparked a medicolegal revolution based on tort reform. National tort reform has seen marginal success; however, significant reform has occurred at the state level. Advocates and opponents have debated the benefits of tort reform since its inception.
The expert witness has been a long-established role in medical malpractice cases. Ideally they should act as an impartial party conveying their interpretation of the consensus guidelines for a specific medical practice specialty. Significant changes have occurred over time to the regulations and qualifications required to become an expert witness. These changes have been molded by medical societies, such as the American Medical Association (AMA), that initially came into being during a time when physicians banded together as a form of legal self-preservation. Today, the expert witness is an integral part of all medical malpractice cases in the United States.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bal BS. An introduction to medical malpractice in the United States. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2009;467(2):339–47.
Studdert DM, Mello MM, Brennan TA. Medical malpractice. N Engl J Med. 2004;350(3):283–92.
Luce JM. The development of professional standards for physician expert witnesses in medical malpractice litigation in the United States. ExpressO. 2014. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/john_luce/1/. Last accessed January 15, 2018.
Danzon PM. Medical malpractice: theory, evidence and public policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1985.
Ottenwess DM, Lamberti MA, Ottenwess SP, Dresevic AD. Medical malpractice tort reform. Radiol Manage. 2011;33(2):30–5.
Chessick KC, Robinson MD. Medical negligence litigation is not the problem. 26 N. Ill. U. L. Rev. 563 (2005–2006).
Casey BE, Civello KC Jr, Martin LF, O'Leary JP. The medical malpractice risk associated with bariatric surgery. Obes Surg. 1999;9(5):420–5.
Orosco RK, Talamini J, Chang DC, Talamini MA. Surgical malpractice in the United States, 1990-2006. J Am Coll Surg. 2012;215(4):480–8.
Choudhry AJ, Haddad NN, Martin M, Thiels CA, Habermann EB, Zielinski MD. Medical malpractice in bariatric surgery: a review of 140 medicolegal claims. J Gastrointest Surg. 2017;21(1):146–54.
Weber CE, Talbot LJ, Geller JM, Kuo MC, Wai PY, Kuo PC. Obesity and trends in malpractice claims for physicians and surgeons. Surgery. 2013;154(2):299–304.
Cottam D, Lord J, Dallal RM, Wolfe B, Higa K, McCauley K, Schauer P. Medicolegal analysis of 100 malpractice claims against bariatric surgeons. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2007;3(1):60–6.
Dallal RM, Cottam DR, Bertha N, Bonanni FB Jr, Bour ES, Brolin RE, Kim K, Petrick A, Sweet WA, Blackstone RP. ASMBS patient safety committee and executive committee. American society of metabolic and bariatric surgery patient safety committee policy statement on the qualifications of expert witnesses in bariatric surgery medicolegal matters. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2012;8(2):e9–10.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Morell, M.C., Kothari, S.N. (2019). The Expert Witness and Tort Reform. In: Morton, J., Brethauer, S., DeMaria, E., Kahan, S., Hutter, M. (eds) Quality in Obesity Treatment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25173-4_42
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25173-4_42
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25172-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25173-4
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)