We've gotten pretty good at predicting things. Through social media, we can predict a person's interests and specifically tailor advertisements for products that person is likely to buy; through polling, we can predict which candidate is more likely to succeed in an election; we can even predict the weather...though some would argue we're not very good at it here in the City of Brotherly Love.

But can we predict which doctors are most likely to commit medical malpractice? A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine - titled "Prevalence and Characteristics of Physicians Prone to Malpractice Claims" - argues that we can.

The Study

The researchers relied on data from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), a massive database set up by the government which tracks when payments are made on behalf of doctors for settlements and verdicts related to malpractice claims. They evaluated over 66,000 medical malpractice claims paid on behalf of more than 54,000 doctors for the ten-year period between 2005 and 2014. Using this data, the researchers sought first to identify those doctors who had the most malpractice claims. They then used several variables to categorize the doctors most at risk of committing malpractice.

The Findings

Approximately one third of all claims were paid out on behalf of doctors who were sued more than once for medical malpractice. Even more shocking is the fact those claims are accounted for by only 1% of the more than 54,000 doctors reviewed. This means the same small group of doctors account for one third of all medical malpractice claims tracked by the NPDB! In fact, doctors who paid for two claims of medical malpractice were twice as likely to pay out a third and doctors who paid for five or more claims were 12 times more likely to pay for another. These results suggest that, the more times a doctor gets sued for malpractice, the more likely that doctor is to commit malpractice again.

The study also found that:

• Male doctors have a 38% higher chance of being successfully sued for medical malpractice than female doctors.
• Doctors who received their training in a country other than the United States were 12 times more likely to be successfully sued for medical malpractice.
• Whether a doctor collects more than one malpractice claim was linked to their field of practice: in the fields of orthopedic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery and neurosurgery, doctors were two or more times more likely than other doctors to pay for medical malpractice claims.
• 87% of the doctors paying for medical malpractice claims worked in metropolitan areas.
• 85% of all injuries - representing over 55,000 claims - suffered due to medical malpractice fell into three categories: death, major physical injury and significant injury.

What It All Means?

While the data above doesn't give us a perfect portrait, experts suggest it may help us identify which doctors are more likely to commit medical malpractice than others. With this information, intervention-focused programs, such as mentoring, supervision or restrictions on such doctors' ability to practice medicine.

Until such predictions can be made, the study shows that medical malpractice remains a large problem. Alvin F. de Levie and his team of highly skilled attorneys have been successfully protecting the rights of medical malpractice victims for decades. If you or your loved ones have been a victim of medical malpractice, call us immediately for a consultation at 844-777-2529.