U.S. Department of Justice              
Office of Justice Programs 
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Civil Justice Data Brief

Medical Malpractice Trials and Verdicts in Large
Counties, 2001

By Thomas H. Cohen, J.D., Ph.D.
BJS Statistician

April 2004, NCJ 203098

Revised 7/14/2004 th

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Of the 1,156 medical malpractice trials litigated in the Nation's
75 most populous counties during 2001, most were disposed of
by jury trial (96%) (not shown in a table). In an estimated 9 out
of 10 medical malpractice trials, the alleged harm involved
either a permanent injury (57%) or a death claim (33%) (figure
1).

About half of the sampled medical malpractice trials were brought
against surgeons, while a third were against nonsurgeons.
Dentists accounted for 5% of medical malpractice defendants
(table 1).

Medical malpractice trials with nonsurgeons had the highest
estimated percentage of injuries involving a death claim (43%).
Death claims arose in 30% of trials with a surgeon defendant (not
shown in a table).

The overall win rate for medical malpractice plaintiffs (27%) was
about half of that found among plaintiffs in all tort trials (52%).
Plaintiffs prevailed in nearly 39% of trials against dentist
defendants and in about a quarter of trials against nonsurgeon
(23%) and surgeon (27%) defendants (table 1).  

The median award of $425,000 in medical malpractice trials was
nearly 16 times greater than the overall median award in all tort
trials ($27,000). Median award amounts were higher among
plaintiffs who won malpractice trials against medical doctors, both
surgeons ($575,000) and nonsurgeons ($511,000), than against
dentists ($53,000) (table 1).  

Plaintiff winners were awarded $1 million or more in
approximately a third of medical malpractice trials brought against
nonsurgeon and surgeon defendants (table 1).

The type of injury giving rise to the medical malpractice trial also
had an impact on damage awards. Median award amounts for
medical malpractice trials arising from death claims ($837,000)
and permanent injuries ($412,000) were higher than the median
awards for medical malpractice trials that stemmed from
temporary injuries ($77,000) (table 2).

The number of medical malpractice jury trials since 1992 
has remained stable as the reported differences were not 
statistically significant. Since 1992 the percentage of 
plaintiff winners ranged from 22% to 30%. 

After remaining stable in 1992 and 1996, the median amount
awarded in jury trials to plaintiff winners increased from $287,000
in 1996 to $431,000  in 2001. The percentage of plaintiff winners
receiving awards of $1 million or more also rose from an
estimated 25% in 1992 and 1996 to 32% in 2001 (table 3).

Punitive damages remained rare in medical malpractice jury
trials. From 1992 to 2001, 1% to 4% of plaintiff winners in medical
malpractice jury trials received punitive damages (not shown in
table). The median punitive damage awards for medical
malpractice jury trials in two of the three study periods (1992 and
2001) were around $250,000.

End of file 
4/16/04 pm  
rev 7/4/2004 th