From The New Yorker:
This week in the magazine, Atul Gawande writes about who pays the price when patients sue doctors. Here, with Daniel Cappello, he talks about the costs and consequences of medical malpractice.
DANIEL CAPPELLO: Is the number of malpractice cases in this country on the rise?
ATUL GAWANDE: There has been a rise, especially if you look at the past forty years. There’s been an increase in malpractice claims all over the world. In the past ten or fifteen years, what has really increased is not the number of cases but the number that are settled in the million-dollar-plus range. And that’s what has helped bring it into the headlines more and more. I’m not convinced that this is different from other kinds of litigation involving products and services in our country—we’re a litigious society, and this is part of a larger debate about responsibility for mishaps, especially in high-risk activities.
More here.