Study Finds Two Percent of Doctors Account for Forty Percent of Malpractice Claims

The Chicago Tribune wrote about a recent study with some shocking findings. In an article titled, “For Many Doctors Hounded by Medical Malpractice Claims, it’s Business as Usual” the authors of the study found that “most malpractice-prone doctors keep practicing right where they are, and it doesn’t appear that they suffer any substantial loss of business, results showed.” The study shows, “more than 9 out of 10 doctors who’ve racked up five or more successful claims against them continue to see patients as usual, and they’re in no particular rush to set up shop far away.”

One of the reasons for this, the study found, was that there is not much information available about these successful malpractice claims available to the public. As a result, patients don’t know that the doctor they are seeing has had multiple successful claims against him.

Another jaw-dropping statistic from the study, “we find that about 2 percent of practicing physicians account for about 40 percent of malpractice claims.”

At Warshauer Woodward Atkins, we’ve certainly seen doctors who have had 3 or more successful claims against them, and they continue to practice as see patients as usual. Most states have a medical board website where you can go and look up your doctor to see if she has any successful claims against her. While most of the time, these databases are dependent on the physician or his insurance carrier reporting this information to the State, it is a helpful resource. For doctors licensed in Georgia, the information can be found on the Georgia Composite Medical Board website.

If you believe you or a family member are the victim of medical malpractice, please call us for a free initial consultation.