Tort reform: a substantive change.

Abstract

"No longer is the decisive question whether the party sued--the defendant--negligently harmed someone. The question now centers on how much the plaintiff ought to be compensated for injuries". "The underlying problem here is not an epidemic of incompetence among doctors. It is an epidemic of grossly unrealistic expectations of what doctors can do--encouraged, unfortunately, by courts which should known better. People have come to believe that doctors should never make mistakes and courts have reinforced this absurd requirement of infallibility by punishing breaches with settlements way out of proportion to actual damages". "Personal-injury awards, especially jury awards, are out of touch with reality. They are often based on estimates of how much money the defendants have rather than whether they are at fault".