Defense of Patient's Contribution to Fault in Medical Malpratice Actions
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Authors
Orr, Madelynn R.
Issue Date
1992
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Medical malpractice is a major area of tort litigation and a growing concern for both the medical and legal professions. Throughout the late 1960s and the early 1970s, a marked rise developed in the amount of medical malpractice litigation, the damages awarded, and the cost of medical malpractice insurance. In the late 1980s, another escalation occurred, with further increases in insurance rates, physician boycotts, and public demands for legislative reform. This Comment examines the defense of a patient's contribution to fault in medical malpractice actions.|This Comment first details the recent Supreme Court of Nebraska case, Jensen v. Archbishop Bergan Mercy Hospital. This Comment will then examine the analyses of situations in which the patient's actions create a bar to recovery, the patient's actions serve to reduce the damages awarded, and the patient's actions are not the proximate cause of the injury suffered and, thus, do not affect the malpractice claim. The varying actions that may constitute the defense of patient's contribution to fault are categorized, and these categories are discussed in relation to tort doctrines. This Comment then discusses the potential effect of implementing the Nebraska comparative negligence statute, Legislative Bill 88, on decisions like Jensen. Finally, this Comment examines methods of utilizing patient's contribution to fault in medical malpractice actions...
Description
Citation
25 Creighton L. Rev. 665 (1991-1992)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law