Skip to page content

Tort Law

Journal Article
Progress at the Intersection of Patient Safety and Medical Liability: Insights from the AHRQ Patient Safety and Medical Liability Demonstration Program
Understanding adverse events as the result of complex "systems" failures--rather than of individual negligence--may improve patient safety.
Jan 3, 2017
Journal Article
Above All 'Do No Harm': How Shall We Avoid Errors in Medicine?
This editorial comments on an article in the same journal that demonstrates (through the use of hospital-based adverse drug events) that errors in medicine are prevalent and often preventable.
Jul 12, 2016
Report
Designing Compensation Funds After Disasters
Man-made and natural disasters in the United States can cause personal injury and property damage to dozens, and sometimes even thousands, of people. Sometimes victim compensation programs are created afterwards. Program designers must consider fairness to victims, timely compensation, and low transaction costs.
Jul 6, 2016
Periodical
RAND Review: May-June 2016
This issue highlights integrative medicine and the future of health care; the RAND American Life Panel; a commentary on how to expedite the process of resolving open cases at Guantánamo Bay; women soldiers on the special ops battlefield; and more.
May 2, 2016
Journal Article
Response to Inselbuch and Sackett's Critique of RAND Reports on Asbestos Trusts and Asbestos Litigation
RAND responds to a piece published in Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy Report that was critical of three RAND studies on asbestos litigation and bankruptcy trusts.
Mar 9, 2016
Journal Article
Victim Compensation Funds and Tort Litigation Following Incidents of Mass Violence
Explores the issue of how victim compensation funds (VCFs) impact a victim's likelihood to sue using the tort system. VCFs have become a feature of the policy landscape following high-profile tragedies.
Jan 15, 2016
Journal Article
How Does Tort Law Affect Consumer Auto Insurance Costs?
Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and a differences-in-differences research design, this article examines whether any of several common state-level modifications to tort law affect consumer costs for auto insurance.
Nov 23, 2015
Research Brief
Bankruptcy Trusts Complicate the Outcomes of Asbestos Lawsuits
Interrogatories and depositions in a tort case against a bankrupt firm are less likely to reveal exposure to asbestos in the firm's product than if the case had occurred before the firm filed bankruptcy.
May 21, 2015
Report
Bankruptcy's Effect on Product Identification in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases
One of the most significant developments in asbestos litigation in the past 15 years is the rising rate of bankruptcy among asbestos defendants. Bankruptcy reduces the likelihood that exposures to the firm's asbestos-containing products will be identified in interrogatories and depositions.
May 21, 2015
Journal Article
Medically Unnecessary Diagnostic Imaging: Emergency Physicians Weigh In
A substantial proportion of advanced imaging studies ordered by emergency physicians may be medically unnecessary. According to a broad survey of emergency medicine professionals, fear of missing a low-probability diagnosis and fear of litigation are perceived as two key contributing factors.
Apr 7, 2015
Journal Article
Emergency Physician Perceptions of Shared Decision-Making
A substantial proportion of advanced imaging studies ordered by emergency physicians may be medically unnecessary.
Apr 7, 2015
News Release
Making It More Difficult to Sue Physicians for Malpractice May Not Reduce 'Defensive Medicine'
Malpractice reform has been advocated by many experts as a key to reining in health care costs. Three states raised the standard for malpractice in the emergency room to gross negligence, but that did not translate into less-expensive care.
Oct 15, 2014
Infographic
How Proposition 46 May Affect California
Describes how changes brought about by California Prop 46 may affect patients, doctors, plaintiffs, lawyers, the health care industry, and the public.
Oct 9, 2014
Journal Article
Making It More Difficult to Sue Physicians for Malpractice May Not Reduce 'Defensive Medicine'
Malpractice reform has been advocated by many experts as a key to reining in health care costs. Three states raised the standard for malpractice in the emergency room to gross negligence, but that did not translate into less-expensive care.
Oct 1, 2014
Dissertation
The Impact of Tort Reform, Medicare Plan Choice, and Geography on Health Care Processes, Outcomes, and Expenditures
Explores structural determinants of health care processes, outcomes, and expenditures.
Sep 30, 2014
News Release
Affordable Care Act Could Change Costs for Auto, Malpractice, Other Liability Insurance
As more Americans become newly covered under the ACA, the cost of providing automobile insurance, workers compensation, and homeowners insurance may decline. But an increase in the number of people using the health care system may trigger an increase in the number of medical malpractice claims.
Apr 9, 2014
Research Brief
The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Liability Insurance
Summarizes a report that identifies potential mechanisms through which health care reform might affect claim costs for several major types of liability coverage, especially auto insurance, workers’ compensation coverage, and medical malpractice.
Apr 9, 2014
Report
ACA Could Change Costs of Auto, Malpractice, and Other Liability Insurance
As more Americans become newly covered under the Affordable Care Act, the cost of providing automobile insurance, workers compensation, and homeowners insurance may decline. Meanwhile, an increase in the number of people using the health care system may trigger a corresponding increase in the number of medical malpractice claims.
Apr 9, 2014
Journal Article
Time of Day and Decision to Prescribe Antibiotics
We found that primary care clinicians' likelihood of prescribing antibiotics for ARIs increased as clinic sessions wore on, consistent with the hypothesis that decision fatigue progressively impairs clinicians' ability to resist ordering inappropriate treatments.
Jan 1, 2014
Journal Article
Medical Malpractice Reform: Noneconomic Damages Caps Reduced Payments 15 Percent, with Varied Effects by Specialty
The impact of medical malpractice reforms on the average size of malpractice payments in specific physician specialties is unknown and subject to debate.
Jan 1, 2014

Previous
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Next

RAND Topic:
Tort Law

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Geoffrey McGovern

Director of Intellectual Property

Geoffrey McGovern is director of Intellectual Property, a senior political scientist at RAND, and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. His research has focused on matters of civil justice, statutory compliance, asbestos litigation, national defense, and homeland…
Bethany Saunders-Medina

Policy Analyst

Bethany Saunders-Medina (she/her) is a policy analyst and coordinator for the RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ) and the Kennth R. Feinberg Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation where she helps manage research portfolios and overall center operations. Her work focuses on…

Explore Our People »