Health court

Health court is a proposed specialized court for handling medical malpractice lawsuits. The concept of health courts was developed in response to perceived problems with the tort system, including high litigation costs, long delays, and random verdicts.

Overview

Health courts would be similar to existing administrative courts, such as workers' compensation boards and vaccine courts. They would be staffed by judges dedicated full-time to resolving health care disputes. These judges would make use of neutral experts, rather than the hired experts used in the current system. The goal of health courts is to provide fair compensation to patients who are injured by medical negligence, while reducing the adversarial nature of the process.

Criticisms

Critics of health courts argue that they would limit patients' rights, including the right to a jury trial. They also argue that health courts would not reduce the cost of medical malpractice insurance, and could potentially increase it.

See also

• Medical malpractice
• Tort reform
• Administrative court
• Workers' compensation
• Vaccine court