Although much attention has been given to “medical negligence liability crises,” in reality, very few injured patients ever file a medical negligence lawsuit.

In 2006, researchers at Harvard University announced the results of a study showing that most negligence claims involve medical error and serious injury, and concluded “portraits of a malpractice system that is stricken with frivolous litigation are overblown.”i The researchers found that few claims were without merit, and those that were generally did not receive any money. Continue reading →

The most frequently echoed myth concerning medical negligence is the notion that doctors are fleeing states and retiring early, creating physician shortages. Anecdotal accounts of doctors fleeing states in response to increased insurance premiums have proved to be either unrepresentative isolated events, or flat out false.

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The civil justice system is necessary because other disciplinary mechanisms are woefully inadequate. State medical boards, for instance, are supposed to discipline doctors who consistently violate standards of care. Yet less than nine percent of doctors who make multiple malpractice payments are ever subject to medical board discipline. Two-thirds of doctors who make 10 or more malpractice payments are never disciplined at all
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