Profession
Doctors do well in court, study says
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted May 21, 2007
Juries tend to favor defendant doctors in liability cases, casting doubt on the notion that juries lack the ability to resolve disputes fairly, a study in the May Michigan Law Review concluded.
Between 27% and 30% of medical liability cases end in a plaintiff's verdict, the lowest success rate of any other type of tort trial, according to the analysis out of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.
The study reviewed a body of claims research done over the past 30 years, including data from New Jersey, North Carolina, Florida and the Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Claims considered to show weak evidence of medical negligence generally outnumbered claims deemed to have strong evidence. Plaintiffs won 10% to 20% of those weak cases and about 50% of cases with strong evidence of poor care, according to the study, "Doctors & Juries."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/05/21/prbf0521.htm.
