Physicians' Fears of Malpractice Lawsuits are Not Assuaged by Tort Reforms

Abstract

Physicians lobby for malpractice reform on the basis that it will reduce defensive medical practice. This paper reports the results of a nationally representative survey of physicians concerning their fear of malpractice litigation. We compared physicians' perceptions of malpractice risk in states with different levels of more objective measures of risk, including malpractice premiums and state tort reforms. We found high levels of malpractice concern even in states where risk, measured by the more objective indicators, was low. Differences in levels of physician concern across states with and without common tort reforms were modest. We conclude that tort reforms may have a limited effect on physicians' malpractice fear and, thus, on defensive medicine. Physicians' fear levels may be out of step with their actual risk, reflecting the well-known human tendency to overestimate the likelihood of "dread risks". A PDF of the article can be obtained from Dr. Carrier.

Keywords: malpractice, liability, medical, tort reform

JEL Classification: I1, K13