New research shows that doctors successfully sued over serious medical errors are much more likely to make medical errors with patients in the future.
According to a 2016 Johns Hopkins University study, medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States.
Types Of Medical Errors
Broad categories of potentially catastrophic medical errors include:
• Hospital-acquired infections
• Misdiagnosis
• Surgical errors
• Drug administration mistakes
When healthcare providers make serious, preventable errors, patients and their families have the legal right to sue those responsible. Medical malpractice lawsuits can provide just financial compensation to plaintiffs for their injuries and losses.
A study published online in February by JAMA Open Forum (“Association of Past and Future Paid Medical Malpractice Claims”) found an alarming trend with physicians who are successfully sued for medical malpractice: they are much more likely to make serious mistakes again compared to doctors who have never faced a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Researchers reviewed paid medical malpractice claims of nearly 900,000 licensed U.S. physicians between 2009 and 2018. They compared the physicians’ medical malpractice paid claims in two periods: 2009 to 2013 and 2014 to 2018.
Doctors With Paid Medical Malpractice Claims More Likely To Have Future Claims
The percentage of physicians with a paid medical malpractice claim remained about the same between the two five-year periods. However, researchers determined that doctors successfully sued for medical malpractice in the first five-year period were nearly four times more likely to have a paid medical malpractice claim in the future than doctors with no previous paid claims.
Multiple previous paid medical malpractice claims also resulted in increased chances for future successful lawsuits.
Doctors with two paid medical malpractice lawsuits were seven times more likely to have a paid claim in the future. Those with three or more paid lawsuits were 11 times more likely to be successfully sued for medical malpractice again. These findings were similar for physicians across the board, regardless of high-risk or low-risk medical specialty.
The study says that hospital leaders can and should play a role in preventing medical errors made by doctors. Hospitals should have strategies in place to deal with doctors who make medical errors. The more errors made, the more stringent these interventions need to be.
How Medical Errors Should Be Prevented
The study recommends the following for doctors with three or more paid medical malpractice claims to help prevent future medical errors:
• Closer supervision
• Counseling to improve communication skills
• Refresher training
• Encouragement to move to a nonclinical practice
When healthcare providers make serious, preventable errors, patients and their families have the legal right to sue those responsible. Medical malpractice lawsuits can provide just financial compensation to plaintiffs for their injuries and losses.
If you or a loved one was the victim of serious medical error, turn to a personal injury attorney experienced in medical malpractice litigation.
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.
Authored by Gray Ritter Graham. Posted in Blog March 8, 2023.
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