Sokol D J
Am J Law Med. 1985 Winter;10(4):439-57.
The dramatic growth of medical malpractice litigation in recent decades has contributed significantly to an overall increase in health care costs in this country. Although lawmakers, physicians, and other responsible citizens have proposed numerous solutions in an effort to curb the crisis, these proposals have generally been ineffective. In this Article the Author endorses countersuits as the most appropriate response to frivolous medical malpractice actions. The Author also suggests that contingent fee systems, coupled with the economic motivation of private insurers to settle claims quickly, provide incentive for plaintiffs to initiate frivolous claims. This Article analyzes the general legal approaches available for countersuits, emphasizing recent successful actions based on malicious prosecution and abuse of process, and proposes more widespread use of these approaches.
近几十年来医疗事故诉讼的急剧增长在很大程度上导致了该国医疗保健成本的整体上升。尽管立法者、医生和其他有责任感的公民提出了许多解决方案以努力遏制这场危机，但这些提议总体上并未奏效。在本文中，作者支持反诉，认为这是应对 frivolous 医疗事故诉讼的最合适对策。作者还指出，风险代理收费制度，再加上私人保险公司迅速解决索赔的经济动机，促使原告提起 frivolous 索赔。本文分析了可用于反诉的一般法律途径，着重介绍了近期基于恶意诉讼和滥用程序的成功案例，并提议更广泛地运用这些途径。 （注：“frivolous”直译为“轻率的、无价值的”，这里根据语境灵活处理为“无根据的、恶意的”等意思，但按要求保留英文未完全意译）
