Survey asks physicians why they got sued

We constantly discuss a variety of medical malpractice cases on our blog, but sometimes it’s hard to see the bigger picture. Looking at the issue as a whole can sometimes help the medical field understand where they are lacking and what they can do better in order to not cause injury to their patients.

A recent survey asked some 4,000 physicians about their experience with being sued for malpractice. According to the survey, by the time the respondents were 60 years of age and older, 80 percent of them had been sued at least once.

While there are many reasons that may be brought up in a medical malpractice suit, the physicians who responded indicated three top reasons. Failure to diagnose and a patient suffering abnormal injury both came in at 31 percent. Those two were followed by failure to treat at 12 percent.

Other reasons that were less common included an alleged failure to follow safety procedures, consent issues, poor documentation and medication administration.

When asked why the doctors were sued, there were many different responses, including those related to infections, death or injury during surgeries, cancer diagnosis issues, fetal death and birth defects, and even some doctors who weren’t too sure why they were sued.

An accusation of medical malpractice is a serious one and often results from a truly tragic event. While some may frown upon someone who files a lawsuit against a medical professional, it’s important to remember that these types of injuries can result in thousands of dollars in medical bills as well as a decreased quality of life for years to come. These results certainly warrant a closer look at who was at fault and how these damages can be remedied.