A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine examined 124 medical malpractice cases at an academic medical center in Texas and found 88.7 percent of the cases included nondisclosure agreements.
For the study, William M. Sage, MD, JD, and coauthors examined restrictions on information in malpractice settlements reached on behalf of physicians at the six healthcare institutions owned by The University of Texas Systembefore, during and after the enactment of tort reform legislation in Texas.
The study revealed all of the nondisclosure clauses prohibited disclosure of the medical malpractice settlement terms and amounts. More than half (55.5 percent) of the clauses prohibited disclosing that a settlement had been reached, and 46.4 percent prohibited disclosure of the facts of the claim.
The study also showed that the 50 medical malpractice settlement agreements signed post-tort reform had stricter nondisclosure provisions than the 60 that were signed before tort reform took full effect in Texas.
"The agreements selectively bind patients and patients' representatives, making them hard to justify on privacy grounds. The scope of nondisclosure agreements is often far broader than seems needed to protect physicians and hospitals from disparagement by the plaintiff or to avoid the disclosure of settlement amounts that might attract other claimants," the study concludes.
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