Plsc 5 - The Politics Of Medical Malpractice

Front 1

What is the medical liability/tort system in terms of quality control and civil justice?

Back 1

A system of quality control for discovering, deterring, and punishing medical injury; of civil justice to compensate people for losses from medical injuries caused by fault of others.

Front 2

What are the 3 categories of malpractice liability?

Back 2

Individual, shared, or systemic "(?)"

Front 3

T/F: Even hand-hygiene compliance is at about 50%, so reform pressure is now being applied.

Back 3

True

Front 4

Of or relating to illness caused by medical examination or treatment is...

Back 4

Iatrogenic

Front 5

T/F: Higher rates of elective surgery in the US may explain its higher malpractice rates.

Back 5

True

Front 6

What did Atul Gawande say?

Back 6

That perhaps as many as 5% of physicians in American (i.e. 45,000 doctors!) are unfit to see patients.

Front 7

In the civil justice side of the tort liability system, what are 4 reasons/ways in which compensation is awarded to the affected party?

Back 7

For pain and suffering, medical costs incurred and in the future, income loss, and punitive damages

Front 8

T/F: AverageSS disability benefits replace only half or less of pre-disability earnings formost disabled workers.

Back 8

True

Front 9

T/F: We should consider that the fact that worker's compensation offers partial compensation for income loss can lead to moral hazard.

Back 9

True

Front 10

T/F: Civiljustice systems and social insurance need to complement each other for civiljustice and efficiency: cost efficiency, fair and comprehensive coverage of the injured, efficient quality control to reduce negligence.

Back 10

True

Front 11

What did the 1989 Chicago study show about malpractice?

Back 11

That mistakes were actually made on 1/2 of all patients, ultimately less than 4% of those brought suit

Front 12

T/F: Only one-half of one percent of malpractice payments resulted in an award of $1 million or more.

Back 12

True

Front 13

T/F: Malpractice insurance rates are INCREDIBLY variable across the country.

Back 13

True ($6000 to $201,0000

Front 14

T/F: Defensive medicine is profitable to doctors; the malpractice system can't explain all of the excessive tests and services given by doctors.

Back 14

True

Front 15

T/F: Defensivemedicinemaybe far outweighed by moral hazard or supply-induced demand in explaining wasteand inefficiency.

Back 15

True

Front 16

Cyclical swings in premium trends is the...

Back 16

Insurance underwriting cycle

Front 17

How is the Insurance underwriting cycle actually best explained?

Back 17

By periods of underpricing followed by price corrections that turn out to be excessive.

Front 18

What does "long-tail" insurance describe?

Back 18

The fact that liability lawsuits take a long time to occur and thus have a lag of ~8-10 years.

Front 19

What are the proposed alternatives to the malpractice insurance problem?

Back 19

Have health-care enterprises and physicians pay premiums to them so that there is no individual liability; Have disability insurance cover adverse events, regardless of fault so that doctors don't continue to fear and practice defensive medicine