Medical providers play a crucial role in your health and well-being, so expecting them to perform their duties with care and competence is natural. However, if they fall short and make errors, you can file a medical malpractice claim to seek accountability for any harm they cause.

Medical malpractice occurs when a health care professional provides care that falls below the accepted standard expected in their field.

When studying medical malpractice, it is essential to understand why medical health care practitioners and providers face legal proceedings, how often, from whom, etc. This article is a deeper dive into medical malpractice statistics to uncover the most filed claims, the recuperation received by claim filers, demographics, and more.

Medical malpractice statistics over the years (2000s through 2015)

Despite the numerous rules, regulations, laws, and provisions in place, medical malpractice can still occur due to a variety of reasons, including but not limited to:

• Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis
• Surgical malpractice
• Incorrect treatment
• Failure to obtain informed consent
• Emergency room negligence
• Anesthesia errors
• Wrongful death
• Amputation injuries
• Medical errors

Often, “adverse events” may cause harm to patients, such as prolonged hospital admission, disability, or death, not from underlying conditions but from the health care provided. An example of this is a nosocomial infection acquired from the hospital; in Canada alone, around 10,000 deaths per annum can be accounted for by nosocomial infections.

In the U.S., medical errors were considered the third leading cause of death. Medical errors are unintended actions, executive or management errors, or deviation from normative care pathways. Evidence showed that around 44% of serious adverse medical events were preventable.

However, not all cases qualify as medical malpractice. To file for medical malpractice, the plaintiff or the filer must prove the relationship between the established practice negligent health care provider and the patient. They must demonstrate the following:

1. Duty
2. Breach of care
3. Proximate cause
4. Damages

According to John Hopkins, around 100,000 Americans perish or suffer disabilities due to incorrect, missed, or delayed diagnoses. Diagnostic errors form some of the most common and costly medical errors, predominantly affecting infections (13.5%), vascular events (22.8%), and misdiagnosed cancers (37.8%).

Most of the diagnostic error harm resulted in the following conditions:

• Stroke
• Sepsis
• Lung cancer
• Heart attack
• Venous thromboembolism
• Aortic aneurysm
• Dissection
• Arterial thromboemoblism
• Meningitis
• Encephalitis
• Spinal infection
• Pneumonia
• Endocarditis

However, predominant conditions like infections and vascular events don’t always result in malpractice claims. Most malpractice claims filed from diagnostic errors had to do with cancer, given the more accessible paper trail.

The current portrait of medical malpractice claims

By the time physicians reach the age of 65, 99% in high-risk specialties will have faced malpractice claims, and 75% of those in low-risk specialties. Physicians with one malpractice claim are also likelier to experience more filed against them.

Among over 3,000 physicians, general surgery is one of the most sued specialties for medical malpractice, followed by obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedics, plastic surgery, otolaryngology, and radiology.

Source: Physicians on Fire Salary Survey 2024, Medscape: Malpractice Report 2023

Given the complexity of their tasks, surgeons usually face the brunt of legal action. Because of their high-risk profession, they also pay higher premium insurance costs. However, hospitals also cover professional liability insurance in most employment contracts.

Louisiana was reported as the state with the highest medical malpractice claims (72% of the country’s total), with Indiana and Kentucky coming in second (68%), followed by New Mexico (67%), Pennsylvania (66%), New York (65%), Oregon (64%), Missouri (59%), South Carolina (57%), and Tennesse (57%).

According to the American Medical Association, male physicians (36.8%) are likelier to face malpractice suits than female physicians (23.8%).

Additionally, despite getting sued, not all cases necessarily indicated proof of medical error, and around 65% of claims were withdrawn, dropped, or dismissed. For cases that proceeded to trial (6%), defendants won 89%.

Jorge Sanchez is an internal medicine physician. Menahil Shahid is a researcher and editor.