Research has confirmed that preventable medical errors cause the death of 440,000 people each year in the United States. These errors cost the nation, tens of billions of dollars every year. It is reported that 1 in 3 patients will experience a medical error when they are admitted to the hospital.
As per reports released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), approximately 2,449 medical malpractice cases were disposed of by either the jury or bench trial in state courts of general jurisdiction across the United States in 2005. Roughly 99% of these trials were decided by a jury. Plaintiffs prevailed in less than a quarter of trials involving medical malpractice.
In 2007, there were approximately 117 million hospital emergency department (ED) visits across the United States. About 25% of all visits were covered by either the Medicaid or the States Children’s Health Insurance Program. The number one cause of ED visits was unintentional falls. According to reports, the cost of ED-related malpractice cases totaled more than $1 billion in 2009 alone.
According to data from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), in 2014, there was an increase of 4.4% in total malpractice payout amounts in the United States. It came close to the $4 billion mark at $3,891,743,050. 40% of the payout was for medical malpractice cases in outpatient incidents while 46% were for inpatient cases.
New York patients who are about to have medical treatment should have serious concerns about the prevalence of medical errors. Some studies have estimated that approximately 250,000 people die each year around the country because of a medical mistake.
