Office-based Solo Practitioners Face Majority of Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

March 7, 2016

By Richard A. Silver, Co-chair, Medical Malpractice Committee, Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association; Listed in The Best Lawyers in America© for Medical Malpractice – Plaintiffs

Office-based solo practitioners face the majority of medical malpractice lawsuits, according to a recent survey of nearly 4,000 primary care physicians and selected specialists conducted by Medscape and contained in the “Medscape Malpractice Report 2015: Why Most Doctors Get Sued.”

Of the physicians who reported being sued, 70% cited their work setting as an office-based solo practice. The most frequent reasons for the lawsuits were failure to diagnose and patient suffering abnormal injuries -- tied at 31% -- followed by failure to treat (12%).

The results of this survey offer new insights into the settings where doctors are making the most errors and the types of errors they are making. Armed with this data, medical practitioners and facilities can now take the necessary steps to prevent these types of errors from occurring and provide safer environments for their patients.