Doctors Win Most Malpractice Cases That Go to Trial

A new study has found that while only 4.5% of medical malpractice cases go to a jury, the vast majority of the verdicts favor the physician.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH, Boston, MA, USA) and other institutions examined 10,056 medical malpractice claims closed between 2002 and 2005 that involved some defense cost. The researchers then adjusted for oversampling by weighting each physician by the relative number of physicians reported in the area resource files and defendants specialties, which were divided into eight groups: internal medicine and subspecialties; anesthesiology; general surgery and subspecialties; diagnostic radiology; obstetrics and gynecology; pediatrics, pathology, and other.

The results showed that across all claims, 55.2% resulted in litigation, ranging from 46.7% for claims against anesthesiologists to 62.6% for claims against obstetricians and gynecologists. Overall, 54.1% of the cases that ended up in court were dismissed, and the rest were settled. The frequency with which claims underwent a trial verdict was low across specialties (4.5%), with cases against internists and medicine-based subspecialists among the least likely to undergo trial verdict (2.7%). Among cases undergoing verdict, 79.6% were judged in favor of the physician.

The mean time to resolve a malpractice claim was 19 months--25.1 months for those that were litigated in court and 11.6 months for those settled without judicial involvement--and much longer for cases that progressed to a verdict. Claims won by the physician took 39 months before a verdict; those the plaintiff won took 43.5 months. The study was published early online on May 15, 2012, as a research letter in Archives of Internal Medicine.

“While most claims were ultimately decided in a physician's favor, that resolution came only after months or years,” concluded lead author Anupam Jena, MD, PhD, and colleagues. “The substantial portion of litigated claims that are not dismissed in court and the length of time required to resolve litigated claims more generally may help explain why malpractice claims undergoing litigation are an important source of concern to physicians.”

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