Malpractice History

Some Interesting Facts

We hear so much about medical malpractice lawsuits in the news that one would think its a pretty frequent occurrence. In fact it is actually extremely rare, with less than 1% of physicians countrywide having to fight any serious suits being held against them. On the other hand, it is often said that more than 90% of legitimate malpractice claims aren’t filed. We here at Malpractice-History.com find this fact extremely fascinating, especially considering the exorbitant insurance premiums for doctors throughout the country. Imagine where rates would be if a significant chunk of these unfiled claims were to go be filed. Yikes!

What’s Causing This?

So why is this negligence occurring? Perhaps its the overworked staff at many hospitals and clinics around the world. The average consecutive hours awake by residents was almost 37 hours! Hard to concentrate when you’re working on such little sleep. And naturally with these long days comes long weeks; the average amount of on-call hours for residents was almost 60 hours.

Malpractice on the Rise? Think Again.

Believe it or not, malpractice claims per year have seen a steady decline since 1990. This would be fantastic, if malpractice insurance premiums weren’t inversely related! Malpractice insurance rates continue to rise not because of the number of claims, but because of a decrease in the return on investment for these insurance carriers.

Repeat Offenders

Another wild fact is that just 5% of all doctors in the country account for more than half of the malpractice payouts. On top of this, only 7% of the 35,000 doctors with payouts against them have been disciplined. Who’s making these decisions? And how did these repeat offenders ever get a license?!