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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