• 13
  • December
    2011

Years of data from mandatory malpractice reports is helping researchers develop a system for better predicting the types of payouts plaintiffs can expect from filing a malpractice lawsuit, according to findings presented at the American College of Surgeons 97th Annual Clinical Congress in San Francisco last month.

Medical malpractice analysts note that the research could help plaintiffs in a malpractice lawsuit use precedent cases to increase the monetary value of their damages.

The research suggests that the amount received through a malpractice suit payment can vary widely depending on location, due in large part to the existing legal environment of the area. It is possible that two malpractice suits sharing similar circumstances -- for example, one in North Carolina and the other in New York -- could result in very different amounts of compensation attributable in large part to their environments.

Additionally, some researchers are concluding that the current mandatory malpractice system may be flawed in ways that prevent victims of malpractice from being compensated for their suffering. Although an estimated two to three percent of surgical procedures are marked by malpractice, only about half of these patients ever receive compensation for the damages they have suffered, both physically and emotionally.

Researchers collecting and analyzing the data have concluded that some circumstances clearly produce larger sums of compensation than others. Malpractice leading to permanent disability, brain damage or death tends to yield the highest payouts to plaintiffs, often exceeding $1 million.

This information could be very valuable to plaintiffs of future malpractice cases, giving them more information on what their malpractice case might earn them and helping guide their demands for compensation.

Source: Medscape, "Surgical malpractice claims drop, but pay-outs increase" Caroline Helwick, Nov. 14, 2011