Thanks Ted Frank for pointing out the key points in David Studdert’s landmark NEJM study:

Now, even leaving aside the simple fact that not every “medical error” is actionable medical malpractice, so the Harvard study was measuring the wrong thing, perhaps Turkewitz sincerely thinks that the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ decision to bring a lawsuit is little better than a coin-flip in determining whether a doctor committed medical error, or that bringing a meritless suit against a doctor gives one a 28% chance of getting paid isn’t a problem.

I recently re-iterated the same point in a December letter I wrote to my local paper concerning a malpractice case:

. . . Although I do not know the details of this particular case, it is important to note that unfortunate medical outcomes are not always due to physician malpractice. My sympathies go out to the … family for the tragic turn of events, however complications occasionally happen despite following proper medical guidelines.

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine examined the relationship between medical errors and malpractice lawsuits. An important finding was that almost 40 percent of malpractice claims did not involve medical error.

The data from the Nashua courts support this finding, as . . . the majority of malpractice cases have been found in favor of the physician.