Chapter 4.E.2: Fault-Based and Consent-Based Defenses

Notes: Contractual Waivers, Assumption of Risk, and Comparative Negligence

Note 4. Pre-Claim Waivers, Releases, and Contractual Modifications of Tort Law Standards

On contractual specification of the standard of care, see Restatement Third of Torts: Medical Liability § 11; Jennifer Arlen, Contracting over Liability: Medical Malpractice and the Cost of Choice, 158 U. Penn. L. Rev. 957 (2010); Tom Baker & Timothy Lytton, Allowing Patients to Waive the Right to Sue for Malpractice: A Response to Thaler and Sunstein, 104 Nw. U. L. Rev. 233 (2010); Note, 83 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 850 (2009); Matthew J. B. Lawrence, In Search of an Enforceable Medical Malpractice Exculpatory Agreement: Introducing Confidential Contracts as a Solution to the Doctor-Patient Relationship Problem, 84 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 850 (2009); Maxwell J. Mehlman, Fiduciary Contracting: Limitations on Bargaining Between Patients and Health Care Providers, 51 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 365 (1990); Clark C. Havighurst, Private Reform of Tort-Law Dogma: Market Opportunities and Legal Obstacles, 49 L. & Contemp. Probs. 143 (1986); Glen Robinson, Rethinking the Allocation of Medical Malpractice Risks Between Patients and Providers, 49 L. & Contemp. Probs. 173 (1986); William H. Ginsburg et al., Contractual Revisions to Medical Malpractice Liability, 49 L. & Contemp. Probs. 253 (1986); Clark C. Havighurst, Altering the Applicable Standard of Care, 49 L. & Contemp. Probs. 265 (1986); Richard A. Epstein, Medical Malpractice: The Case for Contract, 1 Am. B. Found. Res. J. 87 (1976).