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Finding Dr. Right
When Something Goes Wrong
Shopping Smart for a Hospital
Your Rights As a Hospital Patient
Questions to Prepare for Surgery
If You Think You're Leaving
the Hospital Too Soon
Getting to Know Your MCO
(managed care organization)
How to Prevent Medical Errors
Preventing Prescription Errors
Action Agenda
Facts on Malpractice
Links
Reactions
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FACTS ON MALPRACTICE
There is a lot of misinformation about medical malpractice. Below are a series of fact sheets that briefly state some of the information that the public should know about malpractice in New York State. The data clearly shows that there is a malpractice crisis in New York State—a crisis resulting from needless patients’ injuries and deaths resulting from substandard medical care.
In the late 1980s, New York State commissioned a study of medical malpractice. The study, released in 1991, found staggering levels of patients’ injuries and deaths due to medical negligence.
| NUMBER OF HOSPITAL "ADVERSE EVENTS" ACCORDING TO CATEGORY OF DISABILITY |
| Category of Patients' Disability |
"Adverse Events" due to negligence |
"Minimal" impairment
(Recovery in one month) |
12,428 |
"Moderate" impairment
(Recovery between one and six months) |
3,302 |
"Moderate" impairment
(Recovery over six months) |
817 |
| Permanent Disability |
1,746 |
| Death |
6,895 |
| Cannot reasonably judge |
1,989 |
| TOTAL |
27,177 |
In late 1999, the federal government’s Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, reviewed medical mistakes in the nation’s hospitals. The IoM found—like the New York State study earlier in the decade—significant levels of patients’ injuries and deaths in hospitals. If the IoM’s estimates of patients’ deaths due to medical mistakes were compared to other preventable causes of death the following chart is created:
| LEADING CAUSES OF DEATHS IN AMERICA |
| 1. Heart Disease |
724,269 |
| 2. Cancer |
538,947 |
| 3. Stroke |
158,060 |
4. Chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease |
114,381 |
5. Medical Errors
(high estimate) |
98,000 |
6. Pneumonia and
Influenza |
94,828 |
| 7. Accidents (Total) |
93,207 |
| (Motor Vehicle Accidents) |
(43,458) |
| 8. Diabetes |
64,574 |
Medical Errors
(8th highest if using low estimate) |
44,000 |
| Others: |
| Breast Cancer |
42,297 |
| Homicide and legal intervention |
22,824 |
| AIDS |
516 |
THE FACTS
- The overwhelming majority of New York State’s doctors have clean malpractice records.
- Almost 90 percent didn’t make any malpractice payments from 1990 through 1998.
- But the state has large concentrations who have made high numbers of malpractice payments.
- A small number of doctors sued repeatedly are responsible for an enormous share of New York’s malpractice cases.
- 2 percent of New York’s doctors have made at least three payments, but are responsible for nearly 36 percent of the payments and 39 percent of the dollars.
5 Facts About Physicians and Medical Malpractice in New York State
- THE NUMBER OF PHYSICIANS PRACTICING IN NEW YORK STATE HAS SKYROCKETED AND IS INCREASING AT A RATE FASTER THAN THE NATIONAL AVERAGE.
The number of physicians in New York State has risen dramatically over the past twenty years. New York had 280 doctors per 100,000 in 1980; it has 414 physicians per 100,000 population in 1998. Moreover, those numbers far exceed the national average and adding physicians at a rate faster than the national average. The nation’s ratio of physicians per capita rose by 43.6% compared with the 47.9% increase in New York during that period. New York State is now ranked second to Massachusetts in the number of doctors per capita.
- NEW YORK SURGEONS AND OB-GYNS ARE PRACTICING IN HUGE NUMBERS, FAR ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE.
New York State is ranked number 1 when it comes to the number of general surgeons and surgical specialists it has per capita. New York State also is ranked third in the nation in its number of obstetricians and gynecologists per capita, well ahead of California (ranked 27th). When compared to the region, only Connecticut (ranked 2nd) is ahead of New York State in the number of ob-gyns per capita.
- THE NUMBER OF MALPRACTICE SUITS HAS HELD STEADY.
Medical malpractice filings have remained constant over the past decade, from nearly 4,300 in 1988 to just over 4,200 in 1999.
- AREAS WITH THE MOST MALPRACTICE LAWSUITS ARE THE AREAS WHERE PHYSICIANS ARE MOST LIKELY TO PRACTICE.
The places where the bulk of lawsuits are filed are, not surprisingly, the places where doctors practice. In addition, studies have shown that the lower the income of the injured patient, the less likely they are to sue. Ironically, African-Americans are more likely to be hospitalized at institutions with higher rates of negligent medical care.
- FACT: THOUSANDS OF NEW YORK HOSPITAL PATIENTS ARE KILLED DUE TO MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE.
Each year nearly 7,000 New York State hospital patients are killed and over 27,000 patients are injured as the result of negligent medical care. Medical mistakes rank as high as fifth among the leading causes of death in America.
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