FAQs
How often are medical malpractice claims made?
- There were 254,380 Medical Malpractice Reports submitted to and accepted by the National Data Bank of Practitioners for Physicians from September 1, 1990 through May 22, 2010.
- There were 16,316 Medical Malpractice Reports submitted to and accepted by the National Data Bank of Practitioners for Osteopathic Physicians from September 1, 1990 through May 22, 2010.
- There were 7,203 Medical Malpractice Reports submitted to and accepted by the National Data Bank of Practitioners for Podiatrists from September 1, 1990 through May 22, 2010.
- There were 1,823 Medical Malpractice Reports submitted to and accepted by the National Data Bank of Practitioners for Pharmacists from September 1, 1990 through May 22, 2010.
Source: NPDB Summary Report
How often do medical errors occur in hospitals?
- At least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many as 98,000 people, die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented, according to estimates from two major studies.
- Preventable medical errors in hospitals exceed deaths due to motor-vehicle wrecks, breast cancer, and AIDS.
- Preventable medical errors have been estimated to result in total costs (including the expense of additional care necessitated by the errors, lost income and household productivity, and disability) of between $17 billion and $29 billion per year in hospitals nationwide.
Source: November 1999 Institute of Medicine Shaping the Future for Health To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System
How big of a problem are hospital associated infections?
A report from CDC updates previous estimates of healthcare-associated infections. In American hospitals alone, healthcare-associated infections account for an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths each year. Of these infections:
- 32 percent of all healthcare-associated infection are urinary tract infections
- 22 percent are surgical site infections
- 15 percent are pneumonia (lung infections)
- 14 percent are bloodstream infections
Source: CDC
Are catheter-associated urinary tract infections preventable?
An estimated 17% to 69% of CAUTI [Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection] may be preventable with recommended infection control measures, which means that up to 380,000 infections and 9,000 deaths related to CAUTI per year could be prevented.
Source: Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, Guideline for Prevention of Catheter-Associated
Urinary Tract Infections 2009
