JAMA recently published a review of some 40 papers examining the relation between malpractice liability strategies — tort reform, increased insurance premiums, etc. — and the quality of care. Apparently the efforts had no discernible effect on mortality rates, length of hospital stays, and the like.

An editorial accompanying the paper sketches out a vision of where future efforts should lead, especially given the shift in U.S. medicine from private to institutional practice.

The coauthor of that editorial — surgeon and law professor William Sage — is our guest.

Links:

Malpractice liability and health care quality article in JAMA

Sage and Underhill’s editorial in JAMA

Running time: 17 minutes