The determinants of medical malpractice incidents: Theory of contingency fees and empirical evidence
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Summary
A common criticism of the contingent fee arrangement is that it increases the total number of claims [Dietzet al., 1973, pp. 87–167]. This is true. But without contingent fees, risk averse plaintiffs would not offer the fair value of an incident and, as a consequence, would bear more of the cost of medical malpractice. This conclusion was reached in Section II by examining an expected utility model of plaintiff's decision-making.
Section III presented empirical evidence on the determinants of malpractice incidentsper capita. High income, exposure to surgical operations, and a favorable legal system encourage incidents. The supply price of lawyers' time is negative and significant.
Keywords
Empirical Evidence High Income Legal System International Economic Public Finance
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References
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Copyright information
© Atlantic Economic Society 1979