Abstract
Human practices are inherently plagued by the possibility of an error. In medicine, errors translate to patients being harmed. This entry focuses on the attributes of medical malpractice, the ethical imperatives to minimize errors and to inform injured patients, and a short deliberation for and against changing the compensation scheme for harmed patients, including innovative regulatory models.
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
AMA Code of Medical Ethics. Available at: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-ethics/code-medical-ethics.page. Last accessed 2 Sept 2015.
Barbot, J., et al. (2014). “No-fault” compensation for victims of medical injuries. Ten years of implementing the French mode. Health Policy, 114, 236–245.
Gallagher, T. H., et al. (2006). Choosing your words carefully: How physicians would disclose harmful medical errors to patients. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166, 1585–1593.
Institute of Medicine Reports: Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century (2001). Available at: http://iom.nationalacademies.org/Reports.aspx. Last accessed 2 Sept 2015.
Institute of Medicine Reports: To err is human: Building a safer health system (1999). Available at: http://iom.nationalacademies.org/Reports.aspx. Last accessed 2 Sept 2015.
Kraman, S. S., & Hamm, G. (1999). Risk management: Extreme honesty may be the best policy. Annals of Internal Medicine, 131, 963–967.
Mello, M. M., et al. (2003). The new medical malpractice crisis. New England Journal of Medicine, 348, 2281–2287.
Siegal, G., et al. (2008). Adjudicating severe birth injury claims in Florida and Virginia: The experience of a landmark experiment in personal injury compensation. American Journal of Law and Medicine, 34, 489–533.
WMA. (1992). World Medical Association statement on medical malpractice. Available at http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/20archives/m2/. Last accessed 2 Sept 2015.
Further Readings
Sage, W. M., & Kersh, R. (Eds.). (2006). Medical malpractice and the U.S. Health Care System. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this entry
Cite this entry
Siegal, G. (2016). Malpractice. In: ten Have, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09483-0_276
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09483-0_276
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-09482-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-09483-0
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities