The National Arbitration Forum Blog

In a first of its kind program in Illinois, all medical malpractice claims now enter mediation before a lawsuit can proceed. The use of mediation is intended to avoid a trial where possible and achieve a quicker settlement. A panel of circuit judges will review all malpractice cases and refer all applicable cases to mediation within 90 days of the depositions being taken. A judge not involved in the case will preside over the mediation, although lawyers can also pick an outside mediator.

Judge Ann Callis added, in a Daily Record article, that the “primary goal is to better serve all people of Madison County, and we hopefully have accomplished that, by adopting this rule.”

In North Carolina, as reported in the AMNews, a new arbitration law sets out a well-defined system that specifically addresses medical liability claims, making the process more predictable.

The Voluntary Arbitration of Health Care Claims Act places a $1 million limit on total damages in medical liability cases when both parties agree to resolve their dispute through binding arbitration. The law requires attorneys on both sides to discuss the option to arbitrate with the parties involved. It also outlines a host of mechanisms designed to resolve claims more quickly and less expensively than traditional litigation. The statute takes effect on Jan. 1, 2008.

And if you want just a little bit more on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for healthcare disputes, read Mediation in the Health Care System: Creative Problem Solving by Sheea Sybblis.

In her conclusion, the author explains that a mediation system employed in the health care field should achieve four goals, to wit: (1) compensating patients injured by negligence; (2) motivating doctors to improve the quality of care provided and reduce negligence; (3) preserving the doctor-patient relationship; and (4) achieving optimal cost efficiency. Although she recognizes that mediation cannot be a panacea for all of the problems facing the health care system, Sybblis suggests that mediation may allow individuals to resolve disputes and move on with their lives. Anyone who regularly reads the newspaper or follows political campaigns is well aware that many predict a difficult future for American health care. In her article, Sybblis identifies how mediation could be used to improve upon the current system of settling medical malpractice disputes, one of the most serious problems impacting our ailing health care system.

(Thank you to Geoff Sharp of the mediator blah…blah… blog for pointing out this Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Journal article!)