Using inpatient discharge records from the Italian region of Piedmont, we estimate the impact of an increase in malpractice pressure brought about by experience-rated liability insurance on obstetric practices. Our identification strategy exploits the exogenous location of public hospitals in court districts with and without schedules for noneconomic damages. We perform difference-in-differences analysis on the entire sample and on a subsample which only considers the nearest hospitals in the neighborhood of court district boundaries. We find that the increase in medical malpractice pressure is associated with a decrease in the probability of performing a C-section from 2.3 to 3.7 percentage points (7-11.6%) with no consequences for medical complications or neonatal outcomes. The impact can be explained by a reduction in the discretion of obstetric decision-making rather than by patient cream skimming.
- MeSH
- Cesarean Section statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Models, Econometric MeSH
- Practice Patterns, Physicians' economics statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Insurance, Liability economics statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Obstetrics economics standards statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Pregnancy MeSH
- Pregnancy Outcome economics epidemiology MeSH
- Malpractice economics statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Pregnancy MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Geographicals
- Italy MeSH
- Keywords
- žaloba, laser, malpraxe,
- MeSH
- Dermatology MeSH
- Compensation and Redress MeSH
- Cosmetic Techniques * adverse effects MeSH
- Laser Therapy * adverse effects MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Liability, Legal MeSH
- Malpractice * statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Geographicals
- United States MeSH
- MeSH
- Congresses as Topic MeSH
- Physicians legislation & jurisprudence MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Societies, Medical utilization legislation & jurisprudence MeSH
- Public Health legislation & jurisprudence MeSH
- Malpractice statistics & numerical data legislation & jurisprudence MeSH
- Crime statistics & numerical data legislation & jurisprudence MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
