RT Journal
A1 Herndon, James H.
T1 An Orthopaedic Case Contributed Substantially to the First Malpractice Crisis in the United States in the Nineteenth Century
JF The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
JO The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
YR 2012
FD September 5
VO 94
IS 17
SP e129 1
OP 7
DO 10.2106/JBJS.J.01991
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.J.01991
AB 
Surprisingly, the first malpractice crisis in the United States occurred in the early nineteenth century1. Recent articles commonly refer to three medical malpractice crises, occurring in the mid-1970s, 1980s, and 2002 to 2003—completely forgetting the first major crisis2,3. Even more surprisingly, the early malpractice crisis was triggered largely by an orthopaedic case, relatively unknown today, involving an irreducible dislocated hip that was first radiographed by the author almost 190 years after the patient's injury.