Will a Low Risk Medical Specialty career choice lower your chance of being involved in a malpractice claim? The obvious answer is yes. The question is by how much. A study by the New Journal of Medicine (August 2011) found there to be a great deviation. In the sample pool of over 40,000 physicians, the study found that high-risk specialties such as neurosurgery and OB/GYN had a 99% chance of being involved in a malpractice claim by the age of 65 where as low-risk specialties such as family medicine and pediatrics had a 75% chance of being involved in a malpractice insurance claim by the age of 65.
Below are a few selected specialties within the sample population along with the percentage of that medical specialty being involved in a malpractice claim:
- 19.1% Neurosurgery
- 18.9% Thoracic-cardiovascular Surgery
- 15.3% General Surgery
- 5.2% Family Practice
- 3.1% Pediatrics
- 2.6% Psychiatry
On average, during the study period, 7.4% of all physicians in the sample pool had a malpractice insurance claim. Whereas the percentage of the study sample having a malpractice related payout was only 1.6%. Further, the indemnity payout averaged $274,887.
To contact the author, call 800-457-7790 and ask for Matt Thompson.
