Expert Commentary
A survey of liability claims against obstetric providers highlights major areas of contention
Communication breakdowns and treatment delays are frequent sources of malpractice claims
Janelle Yates, Senior Editor
Communication breakdowns and treatment delays are frequent sources of malpractice claims
An analysis of 882 obstetric claims closed between 2007 and 2014 highlighted 3 common allegationsby patients1:
Together, these 3 allegations accounted for 59% of claims. Other allegations included diagnosis-related claims, delay in delivery, improper performance of operative delivery, retained foreign bodies, and improper choice of delivery method.1
Everything may be bigger in Texas, but New York is the biggest in at least 1 area: large medical malpractice payments. New York had more than 3 times as many $1 million-plus malpractice awards as any other state in 2014, according to data from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB).1
New York physicians had 210 malpractice payments of $1 million or more reported to the NPDB last year, compared with 61 for Illinois, the next-highest state. Rounding out the top 5 were Massachusetts with 49, followed by California with 43, and New Jersey with 41, the NPDB data show.
After taking population into account, New York was still the leader with 10.66 large awards per million residents. Next in this category was the New England trio of Rhode Island, which had 9.42 such payments per 1 million population; Massachusetts (7.26); and Connecticut (6.39).
In 2014, there were 4 states that had no malpractice payments of at least $1 million reported to the NPDB: Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota, and Nebraska, with Kansas having the largest population. In states with at least one $1 million-plus malpractice payment, Texas physicians had the lowest rate per million population, 0.22—just 6 awards from a population of 27 million.
Reference
1. NPDB Research Statistics. National Practitioner Data Bank. http://www.npdb.hrsa.gov/resources/npdbstats/npdbStatistics.jsp. Accessed
July 17, 2015.
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The Obstetrics Closed Claims Study findings were released earlier this spring by the Napa, California−based Doctors Company, the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer.1 Susan Mann, MD,a spokesperson for the company, provided expert commentary on the study at the 2015 Annual Clinical Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in San Francisco (see “Frequent sources of malpractice claims” below).
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Frequent sources of malpractice claims
Communication breakdowns and treatment delays are frequent sources of malpractice claims. Susan Mann, MD, spokesperson for The Doctors Company, the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer, discusses the underlying practice vulnerabilities revealed by the Obstetrics Closed Claims Study.
Dr. Mann practices obstetrics and gynecology in Brookline, Massachusetts, and at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She is president of the QualBridge Institute, a consulting firm focused on issues of quality and safety.
Top 7 factors contributing to patient injury
The Doctors Company identified specific factors that contributed to patient injury in the closed claims1:
“Studying obstetrical medical malpractice claims sheds light on the wide array of problems that may arise during pregnancy and in labor and delivery,” the study authors conclude. “Many of these cases reflect unusual maternal or neonatal conditions that can be diagnosed only with vigilance. Examples include protein deficiencies, clotting abnormalities, placental abruptions, infections, and genetic abnormalities. More common conditions should be identified with close attention to vital signs, laboratory studies, changes to maternal and neonatal conditions, and patient complaints.”1 See “Tips for reducing malpractice claims in obstetrics” below.
Communication breakdowns and treatment delays are frequent sources of malpractice claims
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