A New Study Reveals The Top 10 States With The Most Reported Medical Malpractice Cases

Patients place an enormous amount of trust in their physician and other medical professionals they turn to when seeking care. However, mistakes by medical professionals can be incredibly costly for their patients. A study published in May of this year by Johns Hopkins suggested that medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in the United States.

According to statistics compiled by the National Practitioner Data Bank, about 400,000 patients die every year nationwide due to errors made by medical professionals and organizations, costing the country a whopping $15-19 billion a year in medical fees. Unfortunately, the alarming number of deaths by the hands of medical professionals has propelled medical malpractice to the third leading cause of death in the United States. Malpractice occurs when an injury or fatality is directly caused by a mistake or omission of a health care provider. It could consist of an error in diagnosis or leaving a foreign object in a patient, whatever form it happens to come in could be potentially dangerous.

Bay Alarm Medical Center conducted a study using the statistics from the NPDB to highlight the top 10 states you might not want to get sick or injured in due to high rates of reported medical malpractice claims. The center analyzed 10 years of malpractice statistics to see which states are home to the medical professionals that committed medical errors leading to the death or permanent injury of their patients. Half of these state states are in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic, including four of the top five states. The top 10 list included:

1. Pennsylvania (61 deaths/severe injury per 100,000 residents)
2. New Jersey (56 per 100,000)
3. Louisiana (56 per 100,000)
4. New York (55 per 100,000)
5. Washington, D.C. (49 per 100,000)
6. Kansas (43 per 100,000)
7. New Mexico (42 per 100,000)
8. Florida (41 per 100,000)
9. Massachusetts (39 per 100,000)
10. West Virginia (37 per 100,000)

The study also revealed the type of practitioners that are commonly sued in medical malpractice cases. The medical center looked at almost 600,000 cases within a 10-year span. The top 10 practitioners are:

1. Nurse practitioners (270,365 malpractice suits)
2. Physicians, MDS and DOs (182,095)
3. Dentists (35,920)
4. Therapeutics (33,854)
5. Medical technicians/medical assistants (26,293)
6. Pharmacists (20,460)
7. Chiropractors (9,859)
8. Other (5,983)
9. Physician assistants (4,922)
10. Podiatrists (4,482)

If you or a loved one has been harmed as a result of the negligence of a medical professional or organization, you may be entitled to compensation. Attorneys Charles Gilman and Briggs Bedigian are dedicated to getting you the best results possible. Call their office at (866) 849-9899 or contact them online. The firm handles cases in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.