the
Patient safety should be a physician’s principal
aim. But leaders in the obstetrical community
have developed baseless criteria for assessing the
causes of brain injury at birth—and have shirked
their ethical duty to avoid preventable injuries.
By|| R L. C S E. P
preventable injuries, we are being true
to our mission.
The medical profession’s ethics are
consistent with this moral and legal
premise. All physicians are required
to acknowledge that medical errors
can occur and harm patients—and to
work toward reducing the incidence of
potentially harmful errors.2 By considering information from past meritorious
claims, risk management uses the financial incentive of reducing future liability
costs to promote safer care.
We maintain that some medical
groups undermine the moral and legal
precepts that hold physicians accountable for medical care—especially in cases
involving perinatal brain-injured infants.
We believe that their arguments, as part
The civil justice system should fairly
compensate people who have sustained
preventable injury. The successful pursuit of meritorious medical liability cases
promotes patient safety by discouraging
substandard care.
Tort liability is premised on the moral
concept that each negligent party should
be financially responsible for each reasonably avoidable injury. The law also
contemplates that the obligation to
pay will act as a warning that the law
demands the exercise of due care.1
Our clients who have been harmed by
medical error want us to promote safe
care for others. Our mission is to help
our clients and society. If, by pursuing
meritorious medical liability cases, we
promote safer care that results in fewer
