background and objectives: medical error/malpractice is becoming a global healthcare problem bringing ever increasing number of physicians before the courts, and posing significant costs to the health system. statistical analysis of the nature of complaints can help identifying the most vulnerable medical practices and thereby guide development of preventive strategies. this study surveyed comp...

Over fifteen years after first reporting to the State of New York, the Harvard Medical Practice Study (HMPS) continues to have a significant impact in medical malpractice policy debates. In those debates the HMPS has come to stand for four main propositions. First, “medical injury ... accounts for more deaths than all other kinds of accidents combined” and “more than a quarter of those were cau...

BACKGROUND Traumatic injury is near the top of World Health Organization list of leading causes of death, and one of the major factors affecting mortality is the severity of the trauma. During medical intervention for trauma patients, some injuries may be overlooked, and this misstep may be the basis of a malpractice claim. The objective of this study was to provide a new approach to evaluating...

OBJECTIVE Patient care experience survey data might be useful for managing individual physician malpractice risk, but available evidence is limited. This study assesses whether patients' experiences with individual physicians, as measured by a validated survey, are associated with patient complaints and malpractice lawsuits. DESIGN Random samples of active patients in physicians' panels, with...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this systematic review was to examine the epidemiology of malpractice claims in primary care. DESIGN A computerised systematic literature search was conducted. Studies were included if they reported original data (≥10 cases) pertinent to malpractice claims, were based in primary care and were published in the English language. Data were synthesised using a narrative appr...

This article evaluates the impact of private allegations of malpractice against cardiac surgeons on their patients’ outcomes and characteristics. While tort law may impact observable physician costs, malpractice allegations also impose hidden costs that could also affect physician behavior. We employ a large and multi-year panel dataset and patient-level analysis to ascertain whether malpractic...

Although physicians tend to be more concerned about malpractice actions, adjudication of complaints of alleged physician misconduct by peer review organizations and state licensing authorities can have equally serious consequences. Unlike medical malpractice, no patient injury is necessary to support the claim of alleged misconduct. Unlike malpractice, in which a plaintiff must be the injured p...

* Work on this Article was supported by grant number HS 01539 from the National Center for Health Services Research, United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare. ** Research Attorney, Program on Legal Issues in Health Care, Duke University. A.B. 1968, University of Chicago; J.D. 1971, Harvard Law School. THE FOLLOWING CITATIONS WILL BE USED IN THIS ARTICLE: A. HOLDER, MEDICAL MALP...

Medical malpractice cases are a matter of much concern in many countries including Malaysia where several cases caught the attention of the public and authorities. Although comprehensive annual statistics on medical negligence claims are not available in Malaysia since such data are not collected systematically in this country there are indications of an upward trend. Medical malpractice cases ...

I laud Dr. DeMaria’s efforts in summarizing the issues surrounding the medical malpractice crisis in the November issue of the Journal (1). However, I am struck by the lack of courage of state medical licensing boards in not advocating for stronger laws, policies, and procedures to focus on the 5% of physicians responsible for 50% malpractice payouts. Whereas the medical profession should be co...