Medical Malpractice: The Role of Patient Safety Initiatives Page: 4 of 24
This report is part of the collection entitled: Congressional Research Service Reports and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Medical Malpractice:
The Role of Patient Safety Initiatives
Background
Medical malpractice and malpractice insurance continue to be issues of great
concern to physicians, consumers, legislators, and others.1 Most of the discussion
about the rising cost of malpractice insurance has centered on limiting the damage
awards in malpractice suits. Some attention has been given to insurance market
reforms. A third, related area that has received less public notice in malpractice
discussions is patient safety.
Patient safety refers to the panoply of rules, practices, and systems related to the
prevention of patient injury, also known as "adverse events." Intrinsic to patient
safety efforts are strategies to prevent medical errors; i.e., the use of an incorrect
medical treatment or the failure of a specific treatment to achieve the intended result.2
While patient safety and medical errors have generated a great deal of discussion in
the media and in legislatures in the past several years, such discussion typically has
taken place separately from the vigorous debates concerning malpractice litigation.
Legislation introduced in the 109th Congress has been no exception. S. 544, the
Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, established a system for the
voluntary submission and analysis of medical error data. Similar to other medical
error reporting bills in recent years, it prohibited use of error data in administrative,
civil, and criminal proceedings. S. 544 became P.L. 109-41 on July 29, 2005.
However, medical liability issues were addressed in other legislation; specifically,
H.R. 5/S. 354, the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare
(HEALTH) Act of 2005. Both of these bills focused on tort reform as the solution
to increasing malpractice premiums.3 During the second session of the 109th
Congress, medical malpractice legislation likely will be revisited.
The separation of patient safety concerns from medical malpractice issues has
not always been the case. During the first malpractice insurance "crisis" in the mid-
late 1970s, California passed a pioneering bill [the Medical Injury Compensation
Reform Act (MICRA)] which included provisions not only limiting damage awards
Medical malpractice generally is defined as any deviation from the accepted medical
standard of care that causes injury to a patient. Malpractice insurance is a contractual
arrangement whereby an insurance company accepts the financial responsibility for payment
of malpractice claims against a health care provider, in return for a premium.
2 Medical errors do not necessarily result in injury to a patient.
3 A tort is a civil (as distinct from a criminal) wrong, other than a breach of contract, that
causes injury for which the victim may sue to recover damages.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This report can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Report.
Medical Malpractice: The Role of Patient Safety Initiatives, report, February 23, 2006; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc807260/m1/4/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.