Medical Malpractice Study and Statistics

It is clear that, although the United States provides some of the best health care in the world, the numbers of errors in health care are at unacceptably high levels. The Institute of Medicine’s report estimates that more than half of the adverse medical events occurring each year are due to preventable medical errors, causing the death of tens of thousands. The cost associated with these errors in lost income, disability, and health care costs is as much as $29 billion annually. The consequences of medical mistakes are often more severe than the consequences of mistakes in other industries—leading to death or disability rather than inconvenience on the part of consumers—underscoring the need for aggressive action in this area.

A wide body of research, including many studies funded by AHRQ, supports the IOM conclusions. The two seminal studies on medical error have shown that adverse events occur to approximately 3–4 percent of patients. In another study, the average intensive care unit (ICU) patient experienced almost two errors per day. This translates to a level of proficiency of approximately 99 percent. One out of five of these errors were potentially serious or fatal. If performance levels of 99.9 percent—substantially better than those found in the ICU—applied to the airline and banking industries, it would equate to two dangerous landings per day at O'Hare International Airport and 32,000 checks deducted from the wrong account per hour.

Many of these adverse events are associated with the use of pharmaceuticals, and are potentially preventable. The IOM estimates the number of lives lost to preventable medication errors alone represents over 7,000 deaths annually—more than the number of Americans injured in the workplace each year. In addition, preventable medication errors are estimated to increase hospital costs by about $2 billion nationwide. A 1995 study estimated that problems related to the use of pharmaceutical drugs account for nearly 10 percent of all hospital admissions, and significantly contribute to increased morbidity and mortality in the United States (Bates, 1995). A 1991 study of hospitals in New York State indicated that drug complications represent 19 percent of all adverse events, and that 45 percent of these adverse events were caused by medical errors. In this study, 30 percent of the individuals with drug-related injuries died.