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Changing the Common Law: Effects of the Decline of Charitable Immunity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Gregory A. Caldeira
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Abstract

This paper examines the effects of the abrogation of one common-law doctrine—“charitable immunity”—on the operation and viability of one charitable institution—the hospital—in 24 states over the period 1951-1971. Four models of the effects of abrogation are considered. To test these models, I conceptualize the termination of immunity as an experimental treatment in an interrupted time-series design. I conclude that abrogation led to changes of quite varied magnitude in different states. Apart from abrogation, the onset of Medicare and Medicaid, and changes in the economic environment had considerable effects on hospital costs. In states abrogating after the beginning of federal intervention in medical care, judicial doctrine had no discernible impact on the costs of hospitals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , 1982 , pp. 669 - 693
Copyright
Copyright © 1982 The Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

*

Professor Bradley Canon of The University of Kentucky generously provided me with his data for this paper. I appreciate his collegial assistance. Professors John Alford, Thomas Mans, and Samuel C. Patterson, and several anonymous reviewers made helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. The assistance of the staff of the Laboratory for Political Research, especially Mr. Chia-Hsing Lu, and of the Department of Political Science of the University of Iowa has aided immeasurably in the preparation of this manuscript. Statistical analyses for this paper were performed on the Econometric Software Package (ESP).

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