recentarticles

Reports and Studies:

The Role of Medical Liability Reform in Federal Health Care Reform
Michelle Mello and Troyen Brennan, New England Journal of Medicine, June 15, 2009

Troyen Brennan and Harvard School of Public Health Professor Michelle Mello discuss the prospects for medical liability reform at the federal level, particularly focusing on health courts and other alternative systems.

Adjudicating Severe Birth Injury Claims in Florida and Virginia
The Experience of a Landmark Experiment in Personal Injury Compensation, Gil Siegal, Michelle Mello and David Studdert, American Journal of Law & Medicine, February 1, 2009

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, working in coordination with Common Good and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, explore the birth-injury compensation programs in Florida and Virginia as models for administrative compensation in medical liability.

Administrative Compensation of Medical Injuries: A Hardy Perennial Blooms Again
Paul Barringer, David Studdert, Allen Kachalia, and Michelle Mello, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, August 1, 2008

Common Good's General Counsel, Paul Barringer, discusses the history of administrative compensation in the U.S.

Administrative "Health Courts" for Medical Injury Claims: The Federal Constitutional Issues
Donald Elliott, Sanjay Narayan, and Moneen Nasmith, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, August 1, 2008

Common Good asked authors Elliott, Narayan and Nasmith to discuss the viability of a federal system of administrative medical liability compensation.

Error Reporting and Injury Compensation: Advancing Patient Safety Through a State Patient Safety Organization
Paul Barringer and Allen Kachalia, MD, Wyoming Law Review, August 1, 2008

This paper examines the potential for state patient safety organizations to improve error reporting and test alternative compensation techniques.

Creating Health Courts Through Consent
Opportunities and Challenges for a Non-Legislative Approach to Administrative Injury Compensation
Paul Barringer and Jenny Foreit, Common Good White Paper, August 1, 2008

This white paper discusses how policy makers interested in medical liability reform might do well to consider non-legislative approaches.

Op-Eds:

Common Good Colorado board members Edward Dauer and Judith Ham discuss the pitfalls of medical liability award caps and the need for real reform of Colorado's malpractice laws.

Just Medicine
Philip K. Howard, New York Times, April 2, 2009

Writing for the New York Times, Common Good Chair Philip K. Howard discusses the failings of today's medical liability system and advocates for pilot projects to test special health courts.

Docs Need Malpractice Relief
Dr. Lee Goldman & Dr. Herbert Pardes, New York Daily News, February 28, 2009

Common Good Advisory Board member, Dr. Herbert Pardes, argues for needed medical liability reform in New York state.

No Place to Be Born
Paul Barringer and Richard Berkowitz, New York Sun, August 25, 2008

In an op-ed for the New York Sun, Common Good General Counsel Paul Barringer and Columbia University Medical Center Professor Dr. Richard Berkowitz report on the Ob-Gyn crisis in New York.

News:

Daschle on Health Care and the Global Economy
Joanne Kenen, New America Foundation, July 31, 2008

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle spoke favorably about health courts in an address he gave on health care issues at the New American Foundation last week. Creating health courts, he suggested, would avoid many of the current litigation problems but still make sure that injured patients were protected and compensated.

AMA President Says N.Y. Needs More Primary Care Physicians
E.B. Solomont, New York Sun, July 14, 2008

In a recent interview, the president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Nancy Nielsen, discusses the challenges facing physicians today. She describes the pressures of medical liability and the need for reform. Nielsen notes medical courts as a promising alternative to our current system.