DAILY MAIL MAP REVEALS STATES WITH HIGHEST MEDICAL MALPRACTICE RATES
- Over last decade, 513,270 malpractice reports were made to a national database
- Louisiana had the highest average rate of reports, while Hawaii had the lowest
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If you're going in for surgery soon, you don't want to be in Louisiana
And steer clear of Wyoming, Colorado and Oregon, according to a new analysis.
RP Legal Group looked at over half a million adverse action reports (AARs) across the country in the past decade.
AARs are what healthcare institutions or states use to report suspected cases of medical malpractice against doctors, dentists or any other healthcare provider.
The analysis looked at the number of reports in a state per 100,000 residents and found Louisiana had an average of about 29 reports per 100,000 from 2013 to 2023.
The state was followed by Wyoming, with a rate of 26.2 AARs per 100,000 residents, and Colorado with a rate of 25.6 reports.
Rounding out the top five were Oregon (23 AARs) and Oklahoma (22.5 AARs per 100,000 people).
Between 2013 and 2023, the NPDB recorded approximately 513,270 adverse reports, with payouts totaling close to $43million.
Medical malpractice can be mistakes or errors made during surgery or procedures, including operating on a wrong part of the body and leaving medical tools and supplies in patients following surgery.
According to the New York Bar Association, malpractice occurs 'when a doctor, healthcare professional, hospital or other healthcare facility fails to care for someone in accordance with the accepted standards of the medical profession and the person is injured, becomes ill or a condition or illness worsens as a result.'
Complaints can be lodged by patients themselves or on behalf of patients who have died as a result of suspected malpractice.
Malpractice claims have seen payouts to wronged patients and their families total hundreds of millions of dollars.
In Louisiana, about 3,000 payments were paid out by insurances, healthcare institutions or providers over the decade.
But despite ranking first, Louisiana has actually seen an 18 percent decrease in AARs filed since 2013.
The report showed no region in the US is safe from medical malpractice, with the highest errors in states all over the country, including the west, Midwest, south and Northeast.
Robert Rikard, from the RP Legal Group, said: 'These figures are incredibly high and indicate an issue within healthcare systems and protocols that must be revisited to prevent malpractice.
'Any form of negligence within the healthcare system should raise alarm bells, especially as there can be a lot of collateral damage.'
On the other end of the scale, Hawaii had the lowest rate of medical malpractice. The state saw an average of 62 reports from 2013 to 2023 - a rate of just 4.3 reports per 100,000 people.
This was followed by New York, with a rate of 5.5 and Idaho with a rate of 7.4 AARs per 100,000 residents.
Rounding out the five states with lowest AAR rates was Georgia (7.5 per 100,000) and Connecticut (7.6 per 100,000).
One of the largest payouts in US history was for $261million. In the 'Take Care of Maya' case made famous by Netflix, a jury in Florida ordered a hospital to pay damages to a family who were accused of abusing their daughter and prohibited from seeing her during her treatment for chronic pain.
The lawsuit alleged the child, 10, was touched against her will and placed under video surveillance while her symptoms worsened and she became wheelchair-bound.
Another large payout included a $172million ruling in New York after it was determined paramedics provided bad advice to a woman whose daughter was in anaphylactic shock, a severe allergic reaction that causes difficulty breathing, swelling of the throat, increased heart rate and can be life-threatening.
The delay of treatment led to the girl suffering severe brain damage and paralysis.
In a birthing medical malpractice case, a family was awarded $97million after a doctor delayed a woman's birth and was forced to resort to using forceps and a vacuum extractor to deliver her son.
The complications led to the child having a massive skull fracture, extensive brain bleeding and oxygen deprivation.
As a result, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and several other developmental and brain disorders. Now four years old, he has and will continue to require 24-hour care.
While Mr Rikard said it was hard to pinpoint an exact cause for the medical mishaps, he said the mistakes could stem from a lack of care or tendency to rush care, inexperience among providers or negligence.
He added: 'Practitioners and healthcare workers must ensure they have thorough training and are up to date with advances in the healthcare system to reduce potential malpractice.'
A previous similar analysis speculated population size also could have led to more cases in certain states because doctors could be responsible for more patients.
Understaffing and burnout could also be factors.
A 2023 survey by Athenahealth found more than 90 percent of doctors in America reported feeling burnt out on a regular basis, while 60 percent said they have considered leaving the profession entirely.
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