Your odds of being sued for malpractice: What the data show

The rate at which U.S. physicians face medical malpractice claims has declined over the past decade, but nearly three in 10 doctors have been sued at least once in their career, according to data from the American Medical Association (AMA).

Surgeons in high-risk specialties face lifetime lawsuit rates approaching 75%, according to AMA's Medical Liability Claim Frequency Among U.S. Physicians, published in April 2026. It draws on data from the AMA Physician Practice Benchmark Survey collected between 2016 and 2024.

“Physicians know the practice of medicine carries risk, and even highly skilled doctors face lawsuits,” said AMA President Bobby Mukkamala, MD. “But a claim does not mean a mistake was made. Most cases never find fault with the physician, and the majority are dropped or dismissed before trial. Doctors continue to take on complex, high-risk care because patients depend on it. However, the ongoing liability risk not only challenges physicians but it increases practice expenses, reinforces defensive medical practices, and drives up health care costs for patients and families.”

Lawsuits generally declining

The report's central finding: In 2024, just 1.8% of physicians were sued in the prior year, down from 2.3% in 2016. As of 2024, 28.7% of physicians reported having been sued at least once in their career, compared with 34% in 2016.

The AMA also noted that being named in a lawsuit is not evidence of wrongdoing. Among claims that closed between 2016 and 2018, 65% were dropped, dismissed or withdrawn, and defendants prevailed in 89% of cases that went to a trial verdict.

The survey is nationally representative and is based on the AMA Physician Practice Benchmark Survey, a biennial nationally representative survey of physicians who provide at least 20 hours of patient care per week, have completed residency, and are not employed by the federal government. The 2024 survey expanded the sample to approximately 5,000 physicians. Unlike many prior studies, AMA captured both paid and unpaid claims. That distinction matters: According to the Medical Professional Liability Association, 72% of closed claims between 2016 and 2018 were unpaid.

Specialty drives the biggest differences

The report shows sharp variation in lawsuit exposure by specialty. Physicians in surgical fields face the steepest career-long risk: 46.5% of surgical specialists reported being sued at least once. Within that group, obstetricians-gynecologists (OB-GYNs) topped the list, with 59.6% reporting at least one career claim, followed by general surgeons at 53.1%. General surgeons reported the highest volume of claims on record, averaging 177 claims for every 100 physicians over their careers, with OB-GYNs close behind at 139 per 100.

Emergency medicine physicians and radiologists also faced elevated long-term risk, with 42% and 38.2%, respectively, reporting at least one career claim.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, hematology and oncology specialists had the lowest reported exposure, with just 4.5% ever sued in their career and fewer than 10 claims per 100 physicians over time. Endocrinologists and psychiatrists showed similarly low rates, at 8.9% and 9.2%, respectively.

Primary care physicians fall in the middle ground. About 27.5% of general internal medicine physicians and 27.3% of family and general medicine physicians reported having been sued at least once in their career, rates close to the overall average. Pediatricians fared better, at 16.4%. In the previous year alone, fewer than 1% of primary care physicians across all three categories were sued.

Age compounds risk over time

The probability of being sued in any single year is similar across age groups — roughly 1.7% to 1.9% — but cumulative career exposure climbs steeply with time in practice. Among physicians under 45, 11% had faced at least one lawsuit. That figure rose to 22.2% for those aged 45 to 54, and to 45.2% for physicians 55 and older.

The combination of age and high-risk specialty is particularly stark. Among OB-GYNs and general surgeons aged 55 and older, at least 72% had been sued at least once in their career.

Gender gap narrows under scrutiny

Male physicians faced higher liability risk than female physicians across all measures — 2.2% sued in the prior year versus 1%, and 35.1% ever sued versus 20.6%. The average number of career claims was also higher among men: 72 per 100 physicians, compared with 33 for women.

However, statistical regression analyses, controlling for age, specialty, employment status and geography simultaneously, showed that roughly half the gender gap is explained by other factors. Male physicians tend to be older and more likely to practice in higher-risk surgical specialties. After accounting for those differences, men were seven percentage points more likely than women to have ever been sued and had about 21 more claims per 100 physicians over their careers.

Among physicians under 45, male and female physicians faced nearly identical short- and long-term liability risk. The gender gap grew with age, reaching 18 percentage points in career lawsuit exposure among physicians 55 and older.

Employment status matters less than it appears

On the surface, physician-owners appeared to carry more liability risk than employed physicians — 34.4% of owners had ever been sued, compared with 25.9% of employees. But after adjusting for age and gender in the regression analysis, that gap narrowed to just 1.9 percentage points, and the short-term risk between the two groups was statistically similar. Physician-owners tend to be older and more likely to be male, which accounts for most of the raw difference.

Geography plays a limited role

With one notable exception, lawsuit rates were broadly similar across regions. The Middle Atlantic division, covering New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, stood out, with 37.6% of physicians having been sued at least once in their career and a short-term annual rate of 3.4%. Both figures were significantly higher than those in the West North Central division (Minnesota, Iowa and neighboring states), where 26% of physicians had ever been sued and the annual rate was 1.6%.