Medical Malpractice Lawsuits: How Not to Change the Law but Level the Playing Field

Abstract

It is undeniable that practitioners cause systemic medical errors. However, practitioners do not cause random errors of nature, which also may follow medical interventions. Because medical errors and errors of nature are clinically indistinguishable, every year an unreported number of alleged medical malpractice claims are reviewed by plaintiff attorneys, and 85,000 medical malpractice lawsuits are filed. Some are medical errors; some are errors of nature; some are frivolous. Once attorneys secure a certificate of merit from a medical expert, it no longer matters which are which. The games begin. Once the games begin, 55,000 claims are dropped without ever being adjudicated. Until now, a frivolous lawsuit has had no consequences; however, medical malpractice does have consequences — a national cost of $56 billion per year. CCC+C is a proposed decision-making tool that distinguishes a medical error from an error of nature with 95% confidence. CCC+C does not change the law, but because it quantitatively determines type I and type II errors, it levels the playing field and opens doors to consequences without changing the law.