The Impact of Criminal Procedures on Civil Cases of Medical Negligence Litigation: An Empirical Study

The Impact of Criminal Procedures on Civil Cases of Medical Negligence Litigation: An Empirical Study

 

Title
The Impact of Criminal Procedures on Civil Cases of Medical Negligence Litigation: An Empirical Study
Author
Chun-Ying Wu, Tseng-Wei Yang, Rong-Chi Chen
Keywords
Medical Negligence Litigation, Criminal Procedures, Civil Cases, Body Injury, Empirical Study
Abstract
We conducted an empirical study based on 580 civil cases of medical negligence
litigations between 2002 and 2007 to examine the impact of criminal procedures
on civil cases. We found 245 civil cases (42.2%) involving criminal procedures,
including 57 cases in investigation stage, 99 cases not prosecuted, 12 cases
in prosecution stage, 37 cases with non-guilty sentences, and 40 cases with guilty
sentences. The chance to win a civil case was not associated with adopting criminal
procedures, but significantly associated with the results of criminal procedures. The
chances to win civil cases for the patients were 8.1% for cases not prosecuted,
41.7% for those prosecuted, 27.0% and 62.5% for those with non-guilty and guilty
sentences, respectively. We further examined the association between the severity
of body injury and the chance of adopting criminal procedures. We found civil cases involving death or major body injury were associated with 4.7 and 1.8 times’
chance of involving criminal procedures compared with those with mild body injury.
The cases involving body injury with death had triple chance to be prosecuted
compared with those with mild body injury, although not significantly. For those
sent into criminal courts, cases involving death or major body injury were associated
with twice chance to be sentenced as guilty, although not significantly. In conclusion,
we found the results of criminal procedures were associated with the
chance to win civil cases. The severity of body injury was the key issue to be associated
with the results of criminal procedures.
Abstract Article

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