The Leading Cause of Malpractice Cl

The Leading Cause of Malpractice Claims

Malpractice claims run the gamut, but "diagnostic errors appear to be the most common, most costly, and most dangerous of medical mistakes," according to the findings of a study posted late last month on the Website of the journal BMJ Quality & Safety.[2]

Researchers analyzed diagnosis-related claims from the National Practitioner Data Bank -- an electronic repository of malpractice and other payments made on behalf of physicians -- between 1986 and 2010. Among the more than 350,000 paid claims examined, diagnostic errors accounted for 28.6% of the total number, more than any other error category, and 35.2% of total payments, the highest proportion among all categories.

Diagnostic errors also proved the most fatal -- resulting more often in death than any other medical errors (40.9% vs 23.9%). Researchers found that outpatient diagnostic error claims outnumbered inpatient claims by more than 2 to 1 (68.6% vs 31.2%), but by a significant margin, inpatient claims were likely to be more deadly.

Adjusted for inflation, the 25-year sum of diagnosis-error-related payments was $38.8 billion, more than any other error category. Payments for permanent serious injury -- such as quadriplegia, brain damage, and need for lifelong care -- exceeded those where the injury resulted in death.