Clinical Decision-Making and Judicial Reasoning

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. Introduction

• 1. The Competing Functions of Courts
• 2. How Lawyers and Physicians Reason Differently
• 3. The Malpractice Liability Matrix
• 4. Goals
• 5. The Three Schools of Thought

Chapter 2. Pike v. Honsinger and the Four Pillars

• 1. Learning Objectives
• 2. Introduction
• 3. Historical Medical Context of Pike V. Honsinger
• 4. Pike V. Honsinger
• 5. After Pike: Spadiccini and the Transformation from a Subjective to Objective Standard
• 6. The Four Pillars: A Closer Look
• 7. The Paradox: Combining the Honest Error in Judgment and the Four Pillars
• 8. What Do You Think?

Chapter 3. Tort Theory and Medical Malpractice

• 1. Learning Objectives
• 2. Introduction
• 3. Introduction to Torts
• 4. Risk
• 5. Model of Relative Risk
• 6. Evolution of Tort Law
• 7. Justification Versus Excuse
• 8. Is a Common Mistake Excusable?
• 9. Conformity to Norms: Legal Issues
• 10. Conformity to Norms: Clinical Issues
• 11. What Do You Think?

Chapter 4. Diagnostic Errors

• 1. Learning Objectives
• 2. Introduction
• 3. Liability in Diagnostic Errors
• 4. Proving Causation
• 5. Reducing Liability and Improving Patient Care
• 6. What Do You Think?

Chapter 5. Rethinking Informed Consent

• 1. Learning Objectives
• 2. Introduction
• 3. The Evolution of Informed Consent
• 4. Informed Consent as an Educational Process
• 5. Communicating Uncertainty
• 6. Conceptualizing Informed Consent as Part of the Patient Safety Model
• 7. What Do You Think?

Chapter 6. Complications of Surgery

• 1. Learning Objectives
• 2. Introduction
• 3. Acceptable Complication
• 4. Historical Background: When Did a Bad Outcome Become a Complication?
• 5. Foreseeability
• 6. Complications: Awareness and Action
• 7. Interpreting Literature on Complication Rates
• 8. Occurrence, Detection, and Management
• 9. Conclusion
• 10. What Do You Think?

Chapter 7. New Technologies in Medicine

• 1. Learning Objectives
• 2. Introduction
• 3. Three Categories of New Technologies
• 4. Marketing Medicine in the United States
• 5. The Learning Curve
• 6. Hospital Liability
• 7. Qualifications
• 8. Competency
• 9. Proficiency
• 10. The Complex Intertangled Nature of New Surgical Technologies
• 11. The Unknown of Advances in Medicine
• 12. New Technologies: When the Costs Exceed the Benefits
• 13. The Upside to New Technologies
• 14. What Do You Think?

Chapter 8. Hospital Corporate Liability

• 1. Learning Objectives
• 2. Introduction
• 3. The Evolution of Hospital Corporate Liability
• 4. Peer Review
• 5. Conclusion
• 6. What Do You Think?

Chapter 9. Liability in an Academic Setting

• 1. Learning Objectives
• 2. Introduction
• 3. Libby Zion
• 4. Resident Liability
• 5. What Do You Think?

Chapter 10. The Future of Malpractice: Medical Necessity

• 1. Learning Objectives
• 2. Introduction
• 3. American Medicine and Culture
• 4. Variation in Medicine and Potential Legal Issues
• 5. Why Do Physicians Provide Unnecessary Care?
• 6. Media Coverage and the Gray Areas of Unnecessary Surgery
• 7. Developing Jurisprudence: United States V. McLean
• 8. Conclusion
• 9. What Do You Think?

Chapter 11. Conclusion

Index