Opinion ID: 1970225
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Proportional Approach

Text: The proportional approach reflects a somewhat different perspective on the question of compensating loss of chance. One author has explained the proportional approach and its rationale as follows: The current causation approach requires the finder of fact to determine whether the decedent's chances to live or to achieve a more favorable result were more probable than not. Once the evidence shows that a probability did or did not exist, the inquiry ends. As a result, chances of less than fifty-one percent are treated as if they were nonexistent. A more sensible approach would be to redefine the victim's injury as the loss of a chance. Instead of attempting to determine whether the physical harm was caused by negligence, a court could examine the extent of the victim's lost chances for cure or improvement and grant a recovery that mirrors the extent of those chances. When viewing the question in the negligence setting, the harm suffered would be the loss of the chance. The relevant inquiry would be whether the defendant probably caused a reduction in the victim's chances. If causation were found, the court would provide compensation for the lost chance in direct proportion to the extent of the lost chance. Stephen F. Brennwald, Comment, Proving Causation in Loss of a Chance Cases: A Proportional Approach, 34 Cath.U.L.Rev. 747, 766-67 (1985) (hereinafter cited as Brennwald) (footnotes omitted). The origins of the proportional approach lay in a thought-provoking and frequentlycited article by Professor Joseph King. See Joseph H. King, Jr., Causation, Valuation, and Chance in Personal Injury Torts Involving Preexisting Conditions and Future Consequences, 90 Yale L.J. 1353 (1981) (hereinafter cited as King). In his article, Professor King focused on the nature of the injury in a loss of chance case and on the proper method of valuing damages. Professor King's thesis was that: the loss of a chance of achieving a favorable outcome or of avoiding an adverse consequence should be compensable and should be valued appropriately, rather than treated as an all-or-nothing proposition. Preexisting conditions must, of course, be taken into account in valuing the interest destroyed. When those preexisting conditions have not absolutely preordained an adverse outcome, however, the chance of avoiding it should be appropriately compensated even if that chance is not better than even. Id. at 1354. A number of courts and commentators have subscribed to Professor King's approach. See Perrochet, 27 Tort & Ins.L.J. at 624, 636-37 (listing eight states as adopting the Pure Lost Chance Theory); see also Martin J. McMahon, Annotation, Medical Malpractice: Measure and Elements of Damages in Actions Based on Loss of Chance, 81 A.L.R.4th 485 (1990). Compare Lori R. Ellis, Note, Loss of Chance as Technique: Toeing the Line at Fifty Percent, 72 Tex.L.Rev. 369 (1993). The argument in favor of the proportional approach is supported by the following reasoning. Since persons are ordinarily entitled to damages when they are harmed as a result of the negligence of another, it would seem unjust to deny compensation to a person simply because the harm suffered is a reduction in the person's chance of survival. If a patient's chance of surviving a disease is reduced from 49 percent to 0 percent because of a doctor's negligence in diagnosing and treating a disease, the patient has been deprived of a substantial opportunity to live. The argument in favor of the proportional approach which has persuaded a number of courts is that it is unjust not to remedy such a loss.