The consumer viewpoint on malpractice.

Abstract

Our malpractice system is geared to compensate, and perhaps overcompensate, the occasional victim of catastrophic injury, while undercompensating, or even ignoring, smaller injuries. So states the author in presenting arguments for changing the system. She protests attempts to change the tort system, get around limits, tighten statutes of limitations, remove the discovery rule, or do away with res ipsa loquitur and informed consent. She cites California as a state, which has done the most to strengthen its medical discipline as a first step in attacking the "real problem of medical malpractice...the reality of injury due to medical negligence and the frequent difficulty of obtaining legitimate compensation."