Why Are Doctors Sued for Malpractice?

What medical errors result in the most medical malpractice payments? Birth injuries? Surgical errors? Medication mistakes? According to a recent study cited by the New York Times, errors in diagnosis account for 28.6 percent of malpractice payments, making it the most common cause of claims paid against health care practitioners. Errors related to treatment came in second, and errors related to surgery were third. All other errors combined- including medication, monitoring, anesthesia, and obstetrics- accounted for only 20 percent of malpractice payments.

Diagnostic Errors are Common and Deadly
Misdiagnosis resulted in over 100,000 medical malpractice payments from 1986 to 2010. Diagnostic errors were cited as the cause of 44 percent of all deaths and 33.8 percent of all disabilities in cases resulting in malpractice payments.

The study analyzed 350,706 paid medical malpractice claims over a 25 year period from 1986 to 2010. The study concluded that, “Among malpractice claims, diagnostic errors appear to be the most common, most costly and most dangerous of medical mistakes. We found roughly equal numbers of lethal and non-lethal errors in our analysis, suggesting that the public health burden of diagnostic errors could be twice that previously estimated. Healthcare stakeholders should consider diagnostic safety a critical health policy issue.”

For further information, see the study published in BMJ Quality and Safety.

Experienced Colorado Medical Malpractice Lawyers Can Help You
If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of a misdiagnosis or other medical error, contact the Colorado medical malpractice attorneys at Paulsen & Armitage, LLC for a free case evaluation and immediate assistance.