Bargaining in the Shadow of the Website
Disclosure's Impact on Litigation Behavior
This paper investigates the significance of secrecy and disclosure for medical malpractice litigation. Starting in the mid-1990s, seventeen states began posting information on a doctor's specific history of medical malpractice claims on state-run websites. The laws creating these sites altered the level of secrecy that would accompany litigation and settlement. Taking into account the varying disclosure requirements across the states, the authors estimate the impact of the altered levels of secrecy on litigant behavior. They find that website disclosure reduces settlement amounts for doctors with multiple payments. They also find evidence supporting two, non-exclusive explanations for the decline. The first is that defendants value secrecy and are no longer willing to pay a secrecy premium after website disclosure. The second is that website disclosure changes the composition of cases, skewing it toward more low-quality claims.
- Full Document (pdf format) (File size 0.4 MB)
Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 or higher for the best experience.
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web-Only
- Pages: 48
- Document Number: WR-649-ICJ
- Year: 2009
- Series: Working Papers
The research in this report was conducted by the RAND Institute for Civil Justice.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation working paper series. RAND working papers are intended to share researchers' latest findings and to solicit informal peer review. They have been approved for circulation by RAND but may not have been formally edited or peer reviewed.
Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2012 RAND Corporation.