Physicians in these 10 specialties are most likely to get sued

Nearly 6 in 10 physicians reported being sued at some point in their career, a recent Medscape report found. To prepare the report (login required), Medscape surveyed 4,300 physicians in over 29 specialties.

Physicians who have been named in a malpractice lawsuit reported spending significant time preparing a defense—42% devoted more than 40 hours to defense-preparing tasks—and found the entire lawsuit process typically lasted one to two years.

What happened with these lawsuits? A third were settled before going to trial. In 11% of cases, the judge/jury ruled in favor of the physician, and the judge/jury ruled in favor of the patient in just 3% of cases.

Nearly 20% of physicians said if they could do anything differently, they would have had better chart documentation of their patient encounters. Following a lawsuit, while nearly half of physicians said it didn’t affect the way they practiced medicine, one-quarter said their trust in patients had been eroded, which made them treat patients differently.

Overall, physicians in specialties are more likely to be sued than physicians in primary care—62% vs. 52%—and certain specialties see significantly more malpractice suits than others.

The state where a physician practices will also influence the likelihood of lawsuits. Some states have more litigious cultures and lawsuit climates that are more favorable to plaintiffs, Medscape notes.

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