More findings form the malpractice study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health

Healthfacts, August, 1991

Last year we reported a landmark study that showed only one of eight people who were injured by their medical treatment ever initiate lawsuits; fewer than 50% of those who go to court are compensated for their injuries. (See "More Malpractice Than Lawsuits," May 1990). The study, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, involved a random sampling of the medical records of 31,429 people hospitalized in New York State in 1984. The Harvard team recently published additional findings from the data collected for this New York State study (New England Journal of Medicine, July 25, 1991). This time the investigators looked at the question of whether the public's right to sue improves the quality of medical care.

Their conclusion: "The results of this study, in which malpractice claims were matched to inpatient medical records, demonstrated that the civil-justice system only infrequently compensates injured patients and rarely identifies and holds health care providers accountable for substandard medical care. Although malpractice litigation may fulfill its social objectives crudely, support for its preservation persist in part because of the perception that other methods of ensuring a high quality of care and redressing patients' grievances have proved to be inadequate. The abandonment of malpractice litigation is unlikely unless credible systems and procedures, supported by the public, are instituted to guarantee professional accountability to patients."