Medical Liability/Medical Malpractice Laws by State

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) does a great job of documenting medical liability/malpractice laws and legislation by state. We feature a link to the list in our Medical Malpractice Resources section, but thought a post here was in order to better publicize this excellent resource. The information is available in a chart that summarizes, by state, the following information:

• Damage Award Limits or Cap
• Statute of Limitation
• Joint and Several Liability
• Limits on Attorney Fees
• Patient Compensation or Injury Fund
• Doctor Apologies/Sympathetic Gestures
• Pre-trial Alternative Dispute Resolution and Screening Panels
• Affidavit or Certificate of Merit
• Expert Witness Standards
• Medical or Peer Review Panels

See the NCSL state-by-state comparison of laws here: Medical Malpractice Laws by State.

NEJM Looks at Medical Liability in Health Care Reform

The New England Journal of Medicine takes a look at medical liability reform at the federal level. The article, The Role of Medical Liability Reform in Federal Health Care Reform, provides a bit of background on the topic of tort reform and sees "at least three reasons why government champions of health care reform might consider bundling medical liability reform. These are: defensive medicine, physician support, and to attract Republican support. For more details, please read the article here: medical liability in health care reform.