Medical Malpractice Lawsuits on The Rise

Top 10 Specialties for Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

At 85%, surgical and OB/GYN specialties were the most common specialties of medical malpractice lawsuits in 2017. Both specialties are complex and can lead to injury, disability, or even death if a physician is negligent. 

Other specialties that commonly featured in medical malpractice lawsuits included:

• 85% - Surgery
• 85% - OB/GYN & Women’s Health
• 78% - Otolaryngology
• 77% - Urology
• 76% - Orthopedics
• 73% - Plastic Surgery/Aesthetic Medicine
• 70% - Radiology
• 65% - Emergency Medicine
• 62% - Gastroenterology
• 61% - Anesthesiology

Main Reasons for Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

The most documented reason for medical malpractice lawsuits in 2017 was due to a physician’s failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis. This occurred in 31% of all the lawsuits. Other reasons for lawsuits included:

• 31% - Failure to diagnose/delayed diagnosis
• 27% - Complications from treatment/surgery
• 24% - Poor outcome/disease progression
• 17% - Failure to treat/delayed treatment
• 16% - Wrongful death
• 9% - Patient suffered an abnormal injury
• 3% - Medication administration errors
• 3% - Poor education of patient instruction and education
• 2% - Improperly obtaining/lack of informed consent
• 2% - Failure to follow safety procedures

Physician Involvement in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Startingly, every single physician that contributed to the study had been named in some form of medical malpractice lawsuit, with 49% being named in as much as 2 to 5 medical malpractice lawsuits.

Furthermore, 87% of these physicians were surprised that they had been named in a lawsuit, and 89% of these named physicians felt that the lawsuit was not warranted. 62% of physicians felt that the outcome of their lawsuit was fair, with the breakdown of these outcomes being:

Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Outcomes

• 30% - Settled before trial
• 14% - Physician dismissed from the suit within the first few months
• 12% - Verdict in the physician's favor
• 9% - Case is ongoing
• 9% - The physician was dismissed from the suit prior to settling
• 7% - The suit was dismissed by the court
• 6% - The physician was dismissed from the suit prior to trial
• 5% - The suit was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff prior to trial
• 3% - Other
• 2% - Verdict in the plaintiff’s favor
• 2% - Settled at trial

96% of plaintiffs received a monetary reward of various financial values.

Legal Matters

It is important that you contact a qualified medical malpractice lawyer if you wish to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit. The standards and regulations for medical malpractice differ between states, and so you will need a qualified NYC medical malpractice attorney to inform you of the lawsuit process and then guide you through it.

Your NYC medical malpractice lawyer will inform you that a number of factors need to be proven in order for you to present with a viable medical malpractice case. These factors include:

 

• Proving that your physician failed to provide a proper standard of care
• Proving that your injury resulted from this medical malpractice
• Proving that your injury had damaging consequences to you, such as:
  • Suffering
  • Constant pain
  • Disability
  • Enduring hardship
  • Considerable loss of income

Contact

If you believe that you or a family member may have been a victim of medical malpractice, please contact the medical malpractice lawyers of Rosenburg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff LLP in NYC today and speak to one of our medical malpractice attorneys.

When you are ready to talk, we are ready to listen. Call 212-344-1000 for a free, confidential consultation.