From the Wall Street Journal Blog:

A study of mediation in medical malpractice cases finds the approach has potential benefits including a lower cost of litigation and a reduction in medical errors. A key missing ingredient, however, is the doctors themselves.

The study, published in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, looked at mediation in 31 cases from nonprofit hospitals in New York City. As defined by the study, mediation is a “voluntary, confidential conflict resolution process in which an impartial third party, the mediator (or co-mediators), assists the disputants in negotiating a mutually acceptable resolution.”

...Of those cases, 16 were settled at mediation, 5 settled afterward and 10 weren’t settled. While defense attorneys were less likely to agree to mediation than plaintiff attorneys, lawyers who did participate reported satisfaction with the process, as did “plaintiffs, hospital representatives and insurers,” the study finds.

The authors write that in no cases did physicians participate in the mediation.

[Read the full article HERE]