The new standard for medical malpractice: A step toward ending defensive medicine?

Will a legal shift reduce unnecessary tests and referrals?

In an interview with Medical Economics, Daniel Aaron, M.D., J.D., associate professor of law at the University of Utah, explains how the American Law Institute’s new malpractice standard could ease one of medicine’s biggest sources of stress: fear of being sued.

“The first thing I just want to say … is that most doctors do not experience even a single penny of financial liability,” Aaron said. “The physician who does have to pay a single penny is exceedingly rare.”

While physicians still report anxiety over legal risk, Aaron said the revised standard could help. “It allows them to practice more in accordance with the evidence, and they don’t need to follow what everybody else does … as a matter of adhering to custom.”