Institute for Continuing Education

Malpractice Litigation for Healthcare Professionals:Basic Principles, Philosophy and Processes

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Identify and discuss causes and forces driving the explosion of malpractice litigation in the healthcare industry.
• Explain the civil judicial system and how it relates to malpractice litigation.
• List and define common legal terms.
• Interpret purpose of settlements used in the judicial process.
• Evaluate the basic processes of malpractice litigation.
• Define and describe the elements required to determine case merit.

Course Information

Healthcare professionals today find themselves increasingly under the watchful eye of the public. Today¹s emphasis on seeking a remedy for everything within the court system has created a very litigious society in America. This highly litigious atmosphere causes a great deal of anxiety among all healthcare professionals working in the field, and rightly so.

It is predicted that malpractice litigation will continue to increase rapidly, well into the twenty-first century. This is partly due to the increasing numbers of the population who are approaching advanced age, and thus are utilizing health services on an ever increasing basis.

Because of the current and anticipated virtual explosion of litigation, nurses, physicians and other allied health professionals may find themselves named as a defendant in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Thus all healthcare professionals should become familiar with the basic principles of malpractice litigation and risk management programs. Developing a good understanding of the malpractice process will go a long way in helping prepare the healthcare professional by eliminating some of the myths, fears and misinformation.

The importance of risk reduction and avoidance is already of primary concern to the public at large, due to the staggering increase in the cost of delivering healthcare in this country and the impact it is having on everyone¹s pocketbook. For these reasons, and driven by champion watchdog organizations such as the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, many states have begun mandating, by statutes, formal risk management and quality assurance departments and programs. This is a good idea helping reduce malpractice exposure to both organizations and individual healthcare professionals.