Oct 05, 2024  
2024-2025 Law Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Law Catalog
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LAW 2525 - Legal Responses to Medical Error: Beyond Medical Malpractice


It is estimated that upwards of 400,000 Americans die every year in hospitals because of medical error. The traditional legal response to this problem has been a tort action claiming medical malpractice. The tort remedy is, however, a dying breed. Both the number of claims and total recoveries have been in steep decline over the past twenty years. The questions that the seminar will consider are why the tort remedy has failed to deter medical error and what alternatives might be available. Remedies to be considered will include error reporting requirements, financial incentives for safety, increased government surveillance of medical care, and enhanced utilization of technology to improve safety (including artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented use of electronic health records (EHR)). The course will require that each student write a paper addressing one or another potential legal response to the challenge of medical error. 

Prerequisites & Notes
None.  Health Law is recommended.

Credits: 2





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