Dive Brief:
- Nearly 60% of doctors in the U.S. have experienced being named in a malpractice suit at least once during their careers, according to a Medscape poll of nearly 4,000 physicians.
- The share of doctors being named in suits varied across practice areas. Over 80% of polled obstetricians/gynecologists and surgeons reported having been sued.
- However, 45% reported no long term financial effects to their careers.
Dive Insight:
The Medscape survey depicted a medical field frequently under threat of legal action. In a poll of 4,000 doctors in the U.S. (medical residents excluded), 47% reported being one of the parties named in a malpractice suit. A further 12% had been the sole party named in a suit. The most common reasons doctors had legal action brought against them were "failure to diagnose" and "abnormal patient injuries."
Expectedly, the likelihood of experiencing a lawsuit increased with age. By age 59, a full three-quarters of the doctors had been sued or named in a suit.
The weight of these legal actions and the threat of future ones had real implications for the doctors in the survey population. When asked how malpractice suits influenced their behavior, 54% of doctors reported it changed their interactions with patients all or almost all of the time. Additionally, over 80% of the lawsuits lasted longer than one year, representing a substantial drain on physicians' time.
Roughly 40% of the lawsuits were dismissed and only 20% went to trial. Malpractice suits are important for patients seeking restitution for misdiagnoses or improper care. However, malpractice can be a mechanism to seek monetary awards in settlements, perhaps without actual mistakes being made. Most doctors (81%) thought all malpractice cases should be screened by a medical panel before proceeding further.