A re-examination of the effects of tort reforms on obstetrical procedures and health outcomes

Natalie Malak and Y. Tony Yang

Economics Letters, 2019, vol. 184, issue C

Abstract: Numerous papers examined the effects of tort reforms on physician behavior using data from the 1990s. However, a medical malpractice “crisis” in the early 21st century saw many US states adopt tort reforms to alleviate this issue. Using the United States Linked Birth and Infant Death Records for all fifty states and the District of Columbia data from 1995 to 2011, we find that tort reforms are not as effective as they once were. However, we find evidence that physicians’ procedural choices are affected by certain tort reforms. For example, not only are C-section rates and “preventable” complications affected by tort reforms, but we also observe that physicians react heterogeneously to tort reforms based on patient riskiness and race.

Keywords: Tort reform; Medical malpractice; Physician procedural choice; Defensive medicine; C-section; Infant mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I18 K13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:184:y:2019:i:c:s0165176519303088

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.108626

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