No Epidemic of Malpractice Claims
Contrary to well-publicized claims made by the medical establishment that baseless malpractice cases increase medical costs and drive physicians out of business, a Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Brigham and Women's Hospital study of 1,500 closed malpractice cases by Harvard physicians and lawyers concluded that there is no epidemic of malpractice claims. The study, funded by the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, published the results in the May 11, 2006 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The researchers randomly selected claims from five insurance companies and determined "that most involved serious mistakes, such as delayed diagnosis or a medication error. More than 80 percent of patients suffered serious physical injury; in 26 percent of cases, the patient died. Overall, 63 percent of claims were judged to be the result of a preventable error, while 37 percent were not, although researchers noted that some of these were close calls. And in 27 percent of cases where researchers found medical error, plaintiffs received no payment."
"Some critics have suggested that the malpractice system is inundated with groundless lawsuits, and that whether a plaintiff recovers money is like a random 'lottery,' virtually unrelated to whether the claim has merit," said lead author David Studdert, associate professor of law and public health at HSPH. "These findings cast doubt on that view by showing that most malpractice claims involve medical error and serious injury, and that claims with merit are far more likely to be paid than claims without merit."
The researchers randomly selected claims from five insurance companies and determined "that most involved serious mistakes, such as delayed diagnosis or a medication error. More than 80 percent of patients suffered serious physical injury; in 26 percent of cases, the patient died. Overall, 63 percent of claims were judged to be the result of a preventable error, while 37 percent were not, although researchers noted that some of these were close calls. And in 27 percent of cases where researchers found medical error, plaintiffs received no payment."
"Some critics have suggested that the malpractice system is inundated with groundless lawsuits, and that whether a plaintiff recovers money is like a random 'lottery,' virtually unrelated to whether the claim has merit," said lead author David Studdert, associate professor of law and public health at HSPH. "These findings cast doubt on that view by showing that most malpractice claims involve medical error and serious injury, and that claims with merit are far more likely to be paid than claims without merit."
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