Distribution of orthopaedic surgeons, lawyers, and malpractice claims in New York.
The New York State Department of Health Medical Malpractice Insurance Database was used to determine the number and location of malpractice claims filed by residents of New York State against board certified orthopaedic surgeons between 1979 and 1993. The numbers of board certified orthopaedic surgeons, lawyers, law firms doing medical malpractice work, and malpractice claims per capita for each county were calculated. Stepwise linear regression analysis was used to determine whether the per capita rate of malpractice claims was predicted by the population density of board certified orthopaedic surgeons, law firms filing malpractice claims, or total population of lawyers. Three thousand one hundred eighty-two malpractice claims were filed during the period of interest. The per capita rate of malpractice claims did not correlate with the population density of board certified orthopaedic surgeons. The per capita malpractice claim rate, however, was significantly correlated with the population density of law firms filing malpractice claims and with the overall population density of lawyers. Orthopaedic practices located in areas with high concentrations of lawyers involved in medical malpractice litigation appear to have a higher risk of having malpractice claims filed against them than practices located in other areas.
Ries
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MD
Bassett Healthcare, Cooperstown, NY, USA.
Bertino
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JS
Nafziger
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D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D009518:New York; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000078329:Workforce