Characteristics of potential plaintiffs in malpractice litigation.
OBJECTIVE
To characterize patients calling plaintiff attorneys' offices and claiming to have suffered injury caused by medical negligence.


METHODS
Telephone interviews with an inception cohort of callers to law firms with malpractice complaints before the callers talk to attorneys.


METHODS
Six law offices in five states.


METHODS
502 of 730 callers over 10 randomly selected days in 1991.


METHODS
Demographics of potential plaintiffs, types of health care providers named by callers, factors prompting calls, economic and noneconomic motivations for claims, and disposition of claims.


RESULTS
An average of 12 calls per office per day were received by law firms concerning malpractice complaints. Many factors affected patients' decisions to call: poor relationships with providers before an injury (53%); television advertising by law firms (73%); explicit recommendations by health care providers to seek legal counsel (27%); impressions of not being kept informed or appropriately referred by providers; and financial concerns (for example, 36% with earned income and outstanding medical bills had bills equaling or exceeding 50% of their annual income, 33% were unemployed, and 31% lacked health insurance). One in 30 calls led to the filing of a lawsuit.


CONCLUSIONS
Calls to plaintiff law firms by patients are common, are motivated by diverse factors, represent dissatisfaction with modern health care, and infrequently lead to lawsuits.
Huycke
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University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City.
Huycke
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MM
D003710:Demography; D003815:Dentists / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D007883:Legislation, Medical; D008318:Malpractice / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D008511:Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009042:Motivation; D009726:Nurses / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010361:Patients / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013038:Specialization; D014481:United States