Physician malpractice by the numbers

Here are 12 statistics on physician malpratice, drawn from Medical Economics' "92nd Physician Report," Medscape's "2021 Physician Malpractice Report" and a 2020 report by Coverys, a provider of medical professional liability insurance.

1.  Fifty-one percent of physicians and77 percent of surgeons have been named in a malpractice lawsuit. 

2. Ten states with the most malpractice suits, followed by percent of the states' physicians named in a malpractice suit: 

  • Indiana: 64 percent
  • New York: 61 percent
  • Pennsylvania: 61 percent
  • Illinois: 59 percent
  • New Jersey: 59 percent
  • South Carolina: 58 percent
  • Louisiana: 57 percent
  • Tennessee: 56 percent
  • North Carolina: 55 percent
  • Maryland: 54 percent

3. Percent of physicians named in malpractice suits by specialty:

  • Plastic surgery: 83 percent
  • General surgery: 83 percent
  • Orthopedics: 81 percent
  • Urology: 80 percent
  • OB-GYN: 79 percent
  • Specialized surgery: 74 percent
  • Emergency surgery: 70 percent
  • Otolaryngology: 68 percent
  • Radiology: 64 percent
  • Cardiology: 58 percent

4. ​​Change in malpractice premiums from 2019-20:

  • Increased: 22 percent 
  • Stayed the same: 61 percent
  • Decreased: 6 percent
  • Don’t know: 11 percent

5. Median annual malpractice premiums for primary care physicians in 2020:

  • Family medicine: $8,200
  • Internal medicine: $10,200

6. Median annual malpractice premiums by gender:

  • Men: $11,000
  • Women: $8,300

7. Median annual malpractice premiums by geographic region:

  • Northeast: $12,400
  • South: $9,000
  • Midwest: $11,400
  • West: $10,200

8. Median annual malpractice premiums by years in practice:

  • 10 or less: $11,600
  • 11-20: $11,300
  • 21-30: $11,700
  • 31-40: $10,000
  • 41 or more: $8,700

9. Median annual malpractice premiums by practice ownership:

  • Practice owners: $10,500
  • Non-owners: $10,300

10. Malpractice allegations related to surgery, procedure or diagnosis account for 57 percent of all allegations. Those three allegation types also accounted for 59 percent of indemnity paid.

11. Anesthesia-related allegations represent just 2.8 percent of medical malpractice claims.

12. ​​Sixty-three percent of surgical malpractice claims involved a surgeon with multiple claims.

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