Brennan, et al., “Reliability and Validity,”
supra note 27, at 375;
Localio, et al., “Relation between Malpractice Claims,”
supra note 16, at 249. There is an extensive literature examining the problem of reviewer reliability in studies of medical care. E.g.,
Goldman, R. L.,
“The Reliability of Peer Assessments of Quality of Care,” JAMA 267 (
1992):
958–60;
Hayward, R. A. McMahon, L. F. Bernard, A. M., “Evaluating the Care of General Medicine Inpatients: How Good is Implicit Review?”
Annals of Internal Medicine 118 (1998): 550–56;
Hofer, T. P. Bernstein, S. J. DeMonner, S. Hayward, R. A., “Discussion Between Reviewers Does Not Improve Reliability of Peer Review of Hospital Quality,”
Medical Care 38 (2000): 152–61;
Hayward, R. A. Hofer, T. P., “Estimating Hospital Deaths Due to Medical Errors: Preventability is in the Eyes of the Beholder,”
JAMA 286 (2001): 415–20;
Posner, K. L. Caplan, R. A. Cheney, F., “Variation in Expert Opinion in Medical Malpractice Review,”
Anesthesiology 85 (1996):1049–54;
Localio, A. R. Weaver, S. L. Landis, J. R. Lawthers, A. G. Brennan, T. A. Hebert, L. Sharp, T., “Identifying Adverse Events Caused by Medical Care: Degree of Physician Agreement in a Retrospective Chart Review,”
Annals of Internal Medicine 125 (1996): 457–64;
Thomas, E. J. Studdert, D. M. Brennan, T. A., “The Reliability of Medical Record Review for Estimating Adverse Event Rates,”
Annals of Internal Medicine 136 (2002): 812–816;
Wilson, D. S. McElligott, J. Fielding, L. P., “Identification of Preventable Trauma Deaths: Confounded Inquiries?”
Journal of Trauma 32 (1992): 45–51. Cf.
O’Neil, A. C. Petersen, L. A. Cook, E. F. Bates, D. W. Lee, T. H. Brennan, T. A., “Physician Reporting Compared with Medical-Record Review to Identify Adverse Medical Events,”
Annals of Internal Medicine 119 (1993): 370–76. In general, this research supports the HMPS researchers' judgment that reviewing a very large sample of hospital records is an acceptable way to draw conservative conclusions about the rate of injuries caused by substandard care in a population. Nevertheless, the research questions the reliability of particular judgments made by particular reviewers in particular cases. E.g.
Hayward, Hofer, , “Estimating Hospital Deaths Due to Medical Errors.”
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