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No Fault for Medical Injury

Theory and Evidence

Randall R. Bovbjerg, Frank Sloan
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Document date: October 01, 1998
Released online: October 01, 1998
This article comprehensively assessed the only two operational medical no-fault programs in the U.S., Virginia and Florida's late 1980s compensation programs for children with severe, birth-related neurological injuries. It relied upon literature review; surveys of program administrators, affected parties, and observers; as well as information from Florida's unusual census of all closed malpractice claims, national liability premiums, and other data bases. No fault was found to keep liability coverage affordable, to raise funding for compensation, to lower overhead cost, to speed claims resolution, and to achieve similar physician and claimant satisfaction as the tort system. On the negative side, the programs were very small, even for their narrowly defined eligibility, so no fault was too small to broadly improve compensation or deterrence, while the survival of tort for uncovered obstetrical injuries continued to encourage physician defensiveness, also likely inhibiting them from referring injuries to no fault, lest they wind up in court instead. Better understanding of these details should allow no-fault proponents to achieve improvements, but achieving political feasibility remains a daunting challenge. (University of Cincinnati Law Review 1998 Fall; 67(1): 53-123).


Topics/Tags: | Health/Healthcare


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