Tuesday 30 April 2013

True Cost of Medical Malpractice Lawsuits – It May Surprise You

A new study reveals that the cost of medical malpractice lawsuits in the US is running at about $55.6 billion a year. The $45.6 billion of which is spent on defensive medicine practiced by physicians seeking to stay clear of lawsuits. The amount comprises 2.4% of the nation’s total health care expenditure.

The numbers are the result of a Harvard School of Public Health study published in the September edition of Health Affairs, purporting to be the most reliable estimate of malpractice costs to date. Some of the more vocal opponents to health care reform have long argued that doing away with medical malpractice lawsuits would go a long way towards solving a major cost problem in the system. Given the small percentage of the health care dollar spent on medical malpractice issues that would hardly appear to be the case.

At the same time, with a full $45 billion annually being spent on medical procedures and testing done solely for the purpose of defensive medicine, there is clearly room for improvement.

The results showed that more than 7% of all doctors faced a medical malpractice lawsuit during any given year. “The proportion of doctors facing a claim each year ranged from 19.1% in neurosurgery, 18.9% in thoracic–cardiovascular surgery, and 15.3% in general surgery to 5.2% in family medicine, 3.1% in pediatrics, and 2.6% in psychiatry,” the authors write. “The mean indemnity payment was $274,887, and the median was $111,749. Mean payments ranged from $117,832 for dermatology to $520,923 for pediatrics.”
Overall, the data shows that only 1.6% of doctors in any given year faced a claim that resulted in payment.

2 comments:

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  2. Thank you for sharing this post about the cost of medical malpractice. This will be very helpful for those who wanted to file a lawsuit for negligence.

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