Most Doctors Will Face Malpractice Suit, AMA Says

Aug. 5, 2010— -- WASHINGTON -- More than 60 percent of doctors over the age of 55 have been sued at least once, according to a new survey by the American Medical Association (AMA).

Although most of those claims are dropped or dismissed, the new survey from the AMA shows that most physicians will be sued for malpractice at some point in their careers. This works out to an average of 95 medical malpractice lawsuits having been filed for every 100 physicians now in practice, according to the association.

"This litigious climate hurts patients' access to physician care at a time when the nation is working to reduce unnecessary health care costs," said AMA immediate past president Dr. J. James Rohack in a prepared statement.

For the report, AMA surveyed 5,825 physicians from the 2007-2008 Physician Practice Information (PPI) survey, which is used to update the practice cost data to develop practice expense relative value units (RVUs) for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. The measure of malpractice claims was determined by survey questions that asked doctors about the number of claims filed against them in their career and over the previous year; the survey did not ask about the outcome of those claims.

While physicians are likely to be subject to a lawsuit at some point in their careers, only about 5 percent of physicians are sued in any given year, the report found.

Certain specialities -- including general surgeons and Ob/Gyns -- were more than five times as likely to be sued compared with pediatricians and psychiatrists, according to the report, which was written by Carol Kane of the AMA. In fact, about half of obstetricians/gynecologists under the age of 40 had already been sued, and 90 percent of surgeons age 55 and older had been sued.

Comparatively, fewer than 30 percent of either pediatricians or psychiatrists were sued, and almost no one in either speciality had had claims filed against them in the previous 12 months.

The report goes on to say that while 65 percent of claims are dropped or dismissed, they are still costly. The average defense costs between $22,000 for dropped or dismissed claims, to more than $100,000 for cases that go to trial, according to data in the report from the Physician Insurers Association of America.