The most frequent cause of medical malpractice allegations against physicians is a failure to diagnose patients or a delay of diagnosis, according to Medscape's "The Rising Price of Risk Management: Physicians and Malpractice Report 2024," published Oct. 11.
Here are the 10 most frequent malpractice-related allegations against physicians:
1. Failure to diagnose/delayed diagnosis: 35%
2. Complications from treatment/surgery: 29%
3. Failure to treat/delayed treatment: 20%
4. Poor outcome/disease progression: 19%
5. Wrongful death: 18%
6. Patient suffered an abdominal injury: 15%
7. Errors in medication administration: 5%
8. Improperly obtaining/lack of informed consent: 4%
9. Poor documentation of patient instruction and education: 3%
10. Failure to follow safety procedures: 2%