Some of the Medical Malpractice Facts for USA
Only a handful of the doctors face any serious sanctions each year is a pittance compared to the volume of injury and death of patients caused by negligence of doctors. A recent study it was estimated that as many as 98,000 patients may be killed each year in hospitals alone as a result of medical malpractices in the United States alone.
It is very surprising to know that at least 1 percent of doctors in the United States really deserve serious disciplinary action for the medical malpractices each year. This amounts to approximately 7,703 doctors to be punished each year, but the real figure far exceeds the actual number of doctors to be punished.
Sexual misconduct with a patient is also a serious issue and it can be effectively included in medical malpractices. Ten percent of psychiatrists surveyed recently confessed their involvement in sexual contact with a patient. Most surprisingly most of them not even penalized for the malpractice.
The latent medical malpractice by the doctors is even larger. Survey of some family doctors revealed that nearly half of the doctors remembered a case in which the patient died due to medical negligence. Only a couple of the total reported medical malpractice cases led to medical malpractice suits, and none of these suits resulted in an action.
A very small percentage of doctors account for more than half of the medical malpractice payouts, the doctors who have had two or more malpractice payouts since 1990, only a small percentage of them have been punished yet.
In the United States 44,000 to 98,000 people die in hospitals each year due to medical malpractices. A survey of doctors released recently, states that more than a third of the doctors said they had practiced some medical malpractices, most of the instances leading to serious health consequences later on.
According to a survey, over 225,000 people die each year due to medical malpractices and this has become a leading cause of death in the United States. Approximate figures show that 12,000 deaths/year occur from unnecessary surgery, 7,000 deaths/year occur due to medication errors in hospitals, 20,000 deaths/year occur due to poor sanitary conditions in hospitals and 106,000 deaths/year occur due to adverse effects of medications
In US one-half of 1% of all patients entering the hospitals for treatment get injured there due to grave medical malpractices. That means approximately 156,000 injuries and deaths resulting from doctor negligence.