Defensive response to malpractice pressure in health care settings: A behavioral approach

This article offers an insight into the techniques for analyzing defensive response to malpractice pressure in health care settings, through a behavioral economic approach. It describes and comments recent advances in the game-theoretic literature on the contentious interactions between patients and physicians. We focus on three evolutionary games in which patients can resort to litigation against physicians, and the latter in turn can prevent negligence charges by practicing defensive medicine or by purchasing liability insurance. The aim of this article is to provide clinical and legal practitioners with points for reflection on strategies for making more efficient use of resources by managing conflicts between patients and physicians.