The Impact of Malpractice Fears on Cesarean Section Rates

Lisa Dubay, Robert Kaestner, Timothy Waidmann

National birth certificate data from 1990 through 1992 are used to assess whether physicians’ malpractice fears lead to defensive medicine. A county fixed-effects analysis of the impact of malpractice claims risk on cesarean-section rates and infant health is conducted. The study provides evidenced that physicians practice defensive medicine in obstetrics but that the impact of increased cesarean sections that results from malpractice fears on total obstetric care costs is small. The study also finds that the defensive response varies with the socioeconomic status of the mother. (The Journal of Health Economics 1999 August; 18(4): 491-522).

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