PD17-03 IMPACT OF APOLOGY LAWS ON LITIGATION LENGTH

Abstract

You have accessJournal of UrologyGeneral & Epidemiological Trends & Socioeconomics: Practice Patterns, Quality of Life and Shared Decision Making II1 Apr 2016PD17-03 IMPACT OF APOLOGY LAWS ON LITIGATION LENGTH Patrick H McKenna, Thomas W Bentley, and Christina J Sauder Patrick H McKennaPatrick H McKenna More articles by this author , Thomas W BentleyThomas W Bentley More articles by this author , and Christina J SauderChristina J Sauder More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2016.02.1168AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Thirty-eight states have apology laws which allow defendants to exclude statements or expressions of sympathy regarding medical errors in liability lawsuits. Most states with apology laws simply protect physicians from expressions of sympathy (partial apology law), while a few go further and protect physicians against admission of fault (full apology law). Apology laws are meant to improve communication between patient and physician regarding medical errors. This should reduce patient anger, decrease litigation, and speed up settlements. We assessed whether state apology laws impact litigation length using data from the National Practitioner Databank Public Use Data File (NPDB), which contains information on all malpractice cases from 1991 to 2014. METHODS Using data from the NPDB, litigation length was compared between states with and without apology laws. In states with apology laws, litigation length was compared before and after the laws were enacted and between states with partial and full laws. RESULTS Litigation length was 3.3 ± 2.0 years in states with (N=38,940) and 5.6 ± 3.7 years in states without (N=102,528) apology laws (p<.001). In states with apology laws, litigation length was 4.4 ± 3.3 years before the law was enacted (N=165,556) and 3.3 ± 2.0 years afterwards (N=38,940) (p<.001). Litigation length was 2.6 ± 1.4 years in states with full apology laws (N=2281) and 3.3 ± 2.0 in states with partial laws (N=36,659) (p<.001). CONCLUSIONS Apology laws appear to expedite resolution of medical malpractice cases. Full apology laws appear to be more effective at this than partial laws. States benefit the most with implementation of full apology laws. © 2016FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 195Issue 4SApril 2016Page: e399-e400 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2016MetricsAuthor Information Patrick H McKenna More articles by this author Thomas W Bentley More articles by this author Christina J Sauder More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...