The WSJ Health Blog featured an interesting discussion yesterday about using mediation to settle health care malpractice lawsuits rather than going to trial. In a study of 31 malpractice cases from non-profit hospitals in New York City, 16 were settled through mediation, five were settled afterward and 10 were not settled. Of those who agreed to go to mediation, the patients bringing the complaint, the hospitals representatives, insurers and lawyers reported being satisfied with the process. At Kaiser Permanente where I am employed, we use mediation with great success and general happiness by all parties. The study notes that no physicians accused of malpractice participated in the mediations, with their lawyers citing full work schedules as a reason for not attending the mediation.

There’s plenty of talk these days about how we can reduce the costs associated with defensive medicine. In fact, as Jack pointed out, cardiology has one of the higher rates of malpractice across the board (49.4% ever sued; 29.8% sued two or more times; 3.3% sued in the last 12 months; 110 claims/100 doctors). While the ACC strongly believes that defensive medicine can be reduced with tort reform (see some specific suggestions here), I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on using mediation as a method. Would you ever participate in mediation for a malpractice suit?