Unhealed Wounds: Medical Malpractice in the Twentieth Century (Law and Society (New York, N.Y.)) (Law and Society (New York, N.Y.).)

In 1900 medical malpractice was an obscure field, with few cases, small damages, and little case law. Across the century malpractice became a major component of tort litigation and created entire industries of insurance, expert witnesses, and dedicated malpractice attorneys. Concepts from the legal profession, such as "the standard of care" collided with medical practice. The introduction of new medical technologies led to dramatic breakthroughs in care but created confusion over what appropriate care entailed. New rulings on plaintiff's rights in tort law expanded a patient's ability to sue. Juries, courts, physicians, hospitals, medical societies, insurance firms, and legislators were caught in a collision of medicine, law, and technology. No single constituency presses malpractice forward, rather each constituency in turn drove the issue to a crisis in the 1970s. Argues That The Significant Changes In Malpractice Are Not The Result Of A Standardization Of Care, But The Result Of A Host Of Other Factors - Insurer Demands, Court Sensibilities, And Medical Society Politics. [preface} The Significance Of Malpractice -- Ch. 1. Jumpstarting The Twentieth Century -- Struggling To Define Error -- Pike V. Honsinger -- The Trial -- Implications Of The Case -- Physicians Respond To Malpractice -- Ch. 2. Building A Defense -- Growing Awareness Of Suits -- Medical Societies Offer Medical Defense -- Private Malpractice Insurance -- The X-ray -- Physician Advice Literature -- Expert Witnesses -- Expanding Hospital Liability -- Hospital Bureaucracy -- Ch. 3. Expanding Physician Liability -- Physician's Response -- Ch. 4. Recognition Of Conditions -- Legal Developments. Neal C. Hogan. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 193-253) And Index.