Medical malpractice payouts: a snapshot

July 30, 2019

A look at where and why malpractice payouts are happening.

Misdiagnosis allegations accounted for the largest percentage-34.1%-of the $4.03 billion in medical malpractice payouts made in 2018, according to an analysis of information from the National Practitioner Data Bank by LeverageRx. The 2018 total was up 2.9% from the previous year, continuing a trend that began in 2016.

Read on for more results from the LeverageRX report.

States with the 10 highest malpractice payouts per resident

#10 Florida

$16.28 (total payouts: $346.8 million)

#9 Rhode Island

$17.58 (total payouts: $18.5 million)

#8 Alaska

$18.69 (total payouts: $13.7 million)

#7 West Virginia

$21.00 (total payouts: $37.9 million)

#6 Maine

$21.52 (total payouts: $28.8 million)

#5 Massachusetts

$25.20 (total payouts: $173.9 million)

#4 New Jersey

$25.45 (total payouts: $226.7 million)

#3 Connecticut

$28.24 (total payouts: $100.8 million)

#2 Pennsylvania

$28.81 (total payouts: $369.0 million)

#1 New York

$35.07 (total payouts: $685.3 million)

States with the 10 lowest malpractice payouts per resident

#41 California

$6.81 (total payments: $269.2 million)

#42 Tennessee

$6.39 (total payments: $43.2 million)

#43 Idaho

$6.18 (total payments: $10.8 million)

#44 Arkansas

$5.43 (total payments: $16.3 million)

#45 North Carolina

$4.84 (total payments: $50.2 million)

States with the 10 lowest malpractice payouts per resident, cont’d

#46 Texas

$3.90 (total payments: $11.8 million)

#47 Washington, D.C.

$3.82 (total payments: $2.6 million)

#48 Wisconsin

$3.78 (total payments: $21.9 million)

#49 Mississippi

$3.55 (total payments: $10.6 million)

#50 North Dakota

$0.89 (total payments: $675,300)

Percentage of total payout amounts by allegation category

#10 Behavior health related: 0.3%

#9 Equipment related: 0.6%

#8 Other/miscellaneous: 1.2%

#7 Monitoring related: 3.2%

#6 Anesthesia related: 3.3%

Percentage of total payout amounts by allegation category, cont’d

#5 Medication related: 4.5%

#4 Obstetrics related: 10.3%

#3 Treatment: 21.1%

#2 Surgery: 21.4%

#1 Diagnosis: 34.1%

Average payment amounts by severity of alleged outcome

Insignificant injury: $40,030

Minor temporary injury: $87,252

Outcome unknown: $128,489

Emotional injury only: $128,821

Major temporary injury: $227,063

Average payment amounts by severity of alleged outcome, cont’d

Minor permanent injury: $242,524

Death: $386,317

Significant permanent injury: $450, 326

Major permanent injury: $610,393

Quadriplegic, brain damage, lifelong care: $961,185

Percentage of total payments by patient type

Inpatient: 43.74%

Outpatient: 39.65%

Both: 9.70%

Unknown: 6.91%