Medical Malpractice in Gastroenterology

Recent data on number of claims, final judgement of claims and their costs are scarce. This study analyzes 15 years of malpractice claims in the Netherlands. All claims filed, and all claims closed by two insurance companies (which insure approximately 95% of all hospitals in the Netherlands) between 2007–2021 are included. Trends in number of claims, medical specialties involved, final judgements and costs from malpractice claims are analyzed, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on malpractice claims. In total, 20,726 claims were filed and 21,826 claims were closed. Since 2013, the number of claims filed decreased. Of all claims filed, 64% were aimed at surgical specialties and 18% at contemplative specialties. Of all claims closed, 24.49% were accepted, 19.26% were settled and 48.94% got rejected. The financial burden of all claims closed quadrupled between 2007 and 2021; this increase was caused by rare cases with excessively high costs. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed a decrease in the number of claims filed, and the number of incidents reported. This study provides valuable insights into trends and developments in the number and costs of liability claims, which is the first step towards improving patient safety and preventing incidents and malpractice claims.

Unnecessary abdominal and back surgery in irritable bowel syndrome: time to stem the flood now?

Minnesota insurance regulators said that a study of thousands of medical malpractice claims in three states shows that medical insurers overcharged the state's doctors for malpractice insurance while the number and severity of malpractice claims was actually dropping. In a report to the Minnesota legislature yesterday, state Commerce Department officials said they studied every medical malpractice claim filed in Minnesota and North and South Dakota from 1982 to 1987. Michael Hatch, Minnesota's commerce commissioner, said the study showed that malpractice premiums rose some 300% while the number of claims and the amount that insurers paid to claimants was falling. A spokeswoman for St. Paul Cos., the nation's largest underwriter of medical malpractice insurance and one of two companies that write such insurance in Minnesota, called the state's findings "inaccurate" and "meaningless." She said an outside actuary hired by the company had also found the state's study flawed. Mr. Hatch called the state's study "airtight." Minnesota said average payouts on claims fell from $22,906 in 1982 to $7,550 in 1987. St. Paul said its figures showed payouts rose between 1978 and 1987 from an average of $23,000 to $120,000, including litigation costs.

Management or Avoidance of Medical Malpractice Crises?: Time to Choose

You've Got to Have the Right Stuff

Clinical Preventive Medicine in Primary Care: Background and Practice: 1. Rationale and Current Preventive Practices

Background Little is known about trends in the number of malpractice payments made against dentists and other health professionals. Knowledge of these trends will inform the work of our professional organisations.Methods The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) in the United States was utilised. Data about malpractice payments against dentists, hygienists, nurses, optometrists, pharmacists, physicians (DO and MD), physicians' assistants, podiatrists, psychologists, therapists and counsellors during 2004-14 were studied. Variables include type of healthcare provider, year malpractice payment was made and range of payment amount.Results In 2004 there were 17,532 malpractice payments against the studied health professions. In 2014 there were 11,650. In 2004, the number of malpractice payments against dentists represented 10.3% of all payments and in 2014 it represented 13.4%. Number of malpractice payments against dentists in 2012-2014 increased from 1,388 to 1,555.Conclusions There is an upward pressure on the number of dental malpractice payments over the last 3 years. Concurrently, there is a downward pressure on the number of combined non-dentist healthcare professional malpractice payments.

What Do I Tell My Clients Who Want to Follow a Low Glycemic Index Diet?

Expanding the kidney donor pool: Ethical and medical considerations

We used data from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) to study the growth of physician malpractice payments. Judgments at trial account for 4 percent of all malpractice payments; settlements account for the remaining 96 percent. The average payment grew 52 percent between 1991 and 2003 (4 percent per year) and now exceeds dollar 12 per capita each year. These increases are consistent with increases in the cost of health care. A preoccupation with data on judgments, extreme awards, or specific specialties results in an incomplete understanding of the growth of physician malpractice payments.

‎An important question in non life insurance research is the ‎estimation of number of future payments and corresponding ‎amount of them. A ‎loss reserve is the money set aside by insurance companies to pay ‎policyholders claims on their policies. The policyholder behavior for reporting claims after its ‎occurrence have significant effect on the costs of the insurance ‎company. This article considers the problem of predicting the amount and number ‎of claims that have been incurred but not reported, ‎say IBNR‎. ‎Using the delay probabilities in monthly level, ‎calculated by the Zero Inflated Gamma Mixture distribution, ‎it predicts IBNR's‎ ‎loss reserve. ‎‎The model advantage in the IBNR reserve is insurers can predict ‎the number of future claims for each future date. ‎This enables ‎them to change the claim reporting process. The practical applications of our findings are applied against a third party liability (TPL) insurance loss portfolio. Additional information about claim can be considered in the loss reserving ‎model and making the prediction of amount more accurate.

A Vision of the Platinum Rule

Maintenance Immunosuppression in Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody–Associated Vasculitis

To investigate whether an association exists between physicians' past and subsequent claims of medical malpractice, particularly whether a history of even unpaid claims ($0) or small claims (< $30,000) predicts subsequently higher rates of claims, especially large paid claims (> or = $30,000) (all in 1990 dollars). All medical malpractice claims closed in the state of Florida from January 1975 through August 1988 (N = 20,016, 92% involving physicians), matched with the American Medical Association's Physician Masterfile on all practicing physicians in the state of Florida during that period. Claims history was automated into physician-year claims files, then partitioned into a baseline period (1975 through 1980) and a subsequent period (1981 through 1983). Inconsequential claims were excluded, ie, cases closed without a named claimant and without expense for investigation (30.4% of raw claims). Descriptive analysis of all physician claims; odds ratio analysis of physicians in practice throughout both periods (N = 8247), comparing claims experience in baseline vs subsequent period, adjusted for specialty of practice. For all consequential physician claims, 60% were unpaid claims, 17% were small paid claims, and 23% were large paid claims. The 8247 continuously practicing physicians had a total of 6614 claims, averaging 0.9 per year, but 59.2% of physicians had no claims in 9 years, only 13.4% had any paid claims, and 7.2% had multiple paid claims. Less than 8% of physicians had any large paid claims during the baseline period, and less than 7% had any in the subsequent period. Physicians with any baseline claims (whether paid or unpaid, small or large, single or multiple) had elevated odds of subsequent claims (whether defined as any claims, any paid claims, any large claims, or multiple claims) relative to physicians with no baseline claims. With a baseline of all small claims, the adjusted odds ratio for any subsequent claim was 2.84 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.32 to 3.49), for any subsequent paid claim was 2.97 (95% CI, 2.34 to 3.77), for all large subsequent claims was 2.42 (95% CI, 1.76 to 3.33), and for subsequent multiple claims was 2.83 (95% CI, 2.08 to 3.86). Even having a single unpaid baseline claim approximately doubled the odds. Claims history had predictive value, even with only unpaid claims. Small paid claims were better predictors than unpaid claims, large paid claims were better predictors than small paid claims, and multiple paid claims were better predictors than single paid claims. Claims history of all kinds is a reasonable statistical measure, eg, for the screening purposes of the National Practitioner Data Bank.

The Viability of Using Alternative Sites to Increase Rates of Adolescent Vaccination (or: “A Rising Tide Floats All Boats”)