IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/rlecon/v18y2022i3p297-324n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Allocating Liability among Several Physicians: A Theoretical Model

Author

Listed:
  • Martin-Lapoirie Dylan

    (Université de Lorraine, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, BETA, 54000, Nancy, France)

Abstract

Healthcare treatment can be considered a credence good; that is, the patient may not always be able to infer quality ex ante nor observe it ex post. In this article, we study the allocation of liability among two physicians for joint damage under two liability regimes: strict liability and the negligence rule. The credence characteristic implies that the patient imperfectly detects treatment error. We find that the negligence rule is more deterrent than strict liability if the probability of detection of treatment error by the patient is high. If the probability of detection is low, both liability regimes are equivalent. An efficient allocation rule should be based on the degree of substitutability between the precaution levels of the physicians and the probability that the patient detects treatment error.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin-Lapoirie Dylan, 2022. "Allocating Liability among Several Physicians: A Theoretical Model," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(3), pages 297-324, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:rlecon:v:18:y:2022:i:3:p:297-324:n:3
    DOI: 10.1515/rle-2021-0079
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/rle-2021-0079
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/rle-2021-0079?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    More about this item

    Keywords

    liability; medical malpractice; multiple injurers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K13 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Tort Law and Product Liability; Forensic Economics
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:rlecon:v:18:y:2022:i:3:p:297-324:n:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.