Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Medical Malpractice?How Do I Find Complaints?Background SearchesMaking Decisions
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is Medical Malpractice?
How Do I Find Complaints?
Background Searches
Making Decisions
Malpractice suits may be filed if a patient experiencesinjury, harm, or death due to inappropriate medical care. In 2023, there were 10,172 medical malpractice payment reports filed with the Health Resources and Services Administration in the United States.
This article explains how to check out a doctor, dentist, or other provider for a history of medical malpractice. It is meant to help you make informed decisions about your health care.
Photo: Ariel Skelley/Getty Images
The concept of medical malpractice dates back to ancient times, with evidence from Egypt, Greece, and beyond. Consider Hippocrates and the call to “do no harm” dating to the 5th century BCE.
The elements that const medical malpractice include:
People have the right to file a legal suit in civil courts over medical malpractice, broadly defined as a provider’s departure from the commonly acceptedstandard of care. This can include direct actions, like surgery or medication error, or indirect neglect like failing to order tests.
One study of 60 cases involving emergency department trainees found that 62% of errors were a failure to properly diagnose, 22% were treatment-related, and 15% involved a procedural error.
Examples include:
In this study, the average award following a trial was $1.7 million, with average out-of-court settlements about half that in 2023 dollars.
Medical Malpractice and AI-Assisted CareAs technology evolves, the definition of medical malpractice also may include decisions that healthcare providers make when using artificial intelligence (AI) tools that have gone largely unregulated in the past.The Food and Drug Administration refers to this as Clinical Decision Support Software.
Medical Malpractice and AI-Assisted Care
As technology evolves, the definition of medical malpractice also may include decisions that healthcare providers make when using artificial intelligence (AI) tools that have gone largely unregulated in the past.The Food and Drug Administration refers to this as Clinical Decision Support Software.
Defining Medical Malpractice: How to Take Legal Action
How Do I Find Out if a Doctor Has Complaints?
Finding out if your healthcare provider has ever received any complaints may be a bit tricky. While you may be able to see someratingsor disciplinary information on a healthcare rating website, it may not be complete or current. In some cases, it is up to the healthcare provider to self-report problems, which some may avoid doing.
How to File a Complaint About Your Healthcare Provider
How Do I Do a Background Search on a Healthcare Provider?
Note that there may be more than one healthcare provider with the same name, so cross-reference whatever information you find.
Malpractice suits and disciplinary actions do not always get transferred from one licensing board to the next, so check with all states where a healthcare provider has worked. Keep in mind that some resources, like the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), are available only to authorized users such as hospitals.
How Do I Make a Qualified Judgment When Selecting a Doctor?
A malpractice track record or ratings may not provide the whole story. For example, some rating sites may indicate that asurgeonis “successful.” However, some surgeons, in order to keep their ratings high, will not accept high-risk patients. A record that shows a higher failure rate doesn’t always mean that a healthcare provider is “less successful.”
Certain specialties face more medical malpractice risk, too, including:
A malpractice suit may be a red flag, but it is not unusual for a suit to be filed for a death or injury beyond a healthcare provider’s control. Try to be objective and focus onfinding the best healthcare provider, surgeon, or specialist for your needs and condition. Don’t hesitate to ask a healthcare provider about a malpractice suit or other action you may find.
Summary
When searching for a healthcare provider, you may want to see if they have ever received any complaints or have had any malpractice suits filed against them. To search for this information, you can use specific keywords and look at certain reputable websites.
While found information may be helpful, keep in mind that it may not accurately or fully reflect the healthcare provider’s skills or the circumstances around the complaint or lawsuit.
You can always respectfully ask your healthcare provider directly if they have had a malpractice suit filed against them. But follow your gut when it comes to finding the best healthcare provider for your needs.
8 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Department of Health and Human Services National Practitioner Data Bank.Adverse Action and Medical Malpractice Reports.Mandilara P, Galanakos SP, Bablekos G.A History of Medical Liability: From Ancient Times to Today.Cureus. 2023 Jul 9;15(7):e41593. doi:10.7759/cureus.41593.Weiss & Paarz.The History of Medical Malpractice.Shumway DO, Hartman HJ.Medical malpractice liability in large language model artificial intelligence: legal review and policy recommendations.J Osteopath Med. 2024 Jan 31. doi: 10.1515/jom-2023-0229.Poyorena C, Anderson A, Pollock JR, Homme JL, Rappaport DE, Shufeldt J, Lindor RA.A review of medical malpractice cases involving trainees in the emergency department.J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2023 Aug 1;4(4):e13014. doi: 10.1002/emp2.13014.Food and Drug Administration.Clinical Decision Support Software.Department of Health and Human Services National Practitioner Data Bank.Register Your Organization.Pischedda G, Marinò L, Corsi K.Defensive medicine through the lens of the managerial perspective: a literature review.BMC Health Serv Res. 2023 Oct 17;23(1):1104. doi:10.1186/s12913-023-10089-3.
8 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Department of Health and Human Services National Practitioner Data Bank.Adverse Action and Medical Malpractice Reports.Mandilara P, Galanakos SP, Bablekos G.A History of Medical Liability: From Ancient Times to Today.Cureus. 2023 Jul 9;15(7):e41593. doi:10.7759/cureus.41593.Weiss & Paarz.The History of Medical Malpractice.Shumway DO, Hartman HJ.Medical malpractice liability in large language model artificial intelligence: legal review and policy recommendations.J Osteopath Med. 2024 Jan 31. doi: 10.1515/jom-2023-0229.Poyorena C, Anderson A, Pollock JR, Homme JL, Rappaport DE, Shufeldt J, Lindor RA.A review of medical malpractice cases involving trainees in the emergency department.J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2023 Aug 1;4(4):e13014. doi: 10.1002/emp2.13014.Food and Drug Administration.Clinical Decision Support Software.Department of Health and Human Services National Practitioner Data Bank.Register Your Organization.Pischedda G, Marinò L, Corsi K.Defensive medicine through the lens of the managerial perspective: a literature review.BMC Health Serv Res. 2023 Oct 17;23(1):1104. doi:10.1186/s12913-023-10089-3.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Department of Health and Human Services National Practitioner Data Bank.Adverse Action and Medical Malpractice Reports.Mandilara P, Galanakos SP, Bablekos G.A History of Medical Liability: From Ancient Times to Today.Cureus. 2023 Jul 9;15(7):e41593. doi:10.7759/cureus.41593.Weiss & Paarz.The History of Medical Malpractice.Shumway DO, Hartman HJ.Medical malpractice liability in large language model artificial intelligence: legal review and policy recommendations.J Osteopath Med. 2024 Jan 31. doi: 10.1515/jom-2023-0229.Poyorena C, Anderson A, Pollock JR, Homme JL, Rappaport DE, Shufeldt J, Lindor RA.A review of medical malpractice cases involving trainees in the emergency department.J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2023 Aug 1;4(4):e13014. doi: 10.1002/emp2.13014.Food and Drug Administration.Clinical Decision Support Software.Department of Health and Human Services National Practitioner Data Bank.Register Your Organization.Pischedda G, Marinò L, Corsi K.Defensive medicine through the lens of the managerial perspective: a literature review.BMC Health Serv Res. 2023 Oct 17;23(1):1104. doi:10.1186/s12913-023-10089-3.
Department of Health and Human Services National Practitioner Data Bank.Adverse Action and Medical Malpractice Reports.
Mandilara P, Galanakos SP, Bablekos G.A History of Medical Liability: From Ancient Times to Today.Cureus. 2023 Jul 9;15(7):e41593. doi:10.7759/cureus.41593.
Weiss & Paarz.The History of Medical Malpractice.
Shumway DO, Hartman HJ.Medical malpractice liability in large language model artificial intelligence: legal review and policy recommendations.J Osteopath Med. 2024 Jan 31. doi: 10.1515/jom-2023-0229.
Poyorena C, Anderson A, Pollock JR, Homme JL, Rappaport DE, Shufeldt J, Lindor RA.A review of medical malpractice cases involving trainees in the emergency department.J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2023 Aug 1;4(4):e13014. doi: 10.1002/emp2.13014.
Food and Drug Administration.Clinical Decision Support Software.
Department of Health and Human Services National Practitioner Data Bank.Register Your Organization.
Pischedda G, Marinò L, Corsi K.Defensive medicine through the lens of the managerial perspective: a literature review.BMC Health Serv Res. 2023 Oct 17;23(1):1104. doi:10.1186/s12913-023-10089-3.
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