Do the Claims Hold Up? A Study of Medical Negligence Claims Against Neurologists

• Date: 01 March 2007
• Author: Thomas H. Glick,Lee D. Cranberg,Luke Sato
• Published date: 01 March 2007
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-1461.2007.00085.x

Do the Claims Hold Up? A Study

of Medical Negligence Claims

Against Neurologists

Lee D. Cranberg, M.D., Thomas H. Glick, M.D., and

Luke Sato, M.D.*

We performed an in-depth review of each of the 42 closed medical malprac-

tice claims filed in the past 20 years against neurologist defendants covered

by a common insurer. For each case, we determined whether the neurolo-

gist had rendered harmful, substandard care and noted the case outcome.

In 23 of 42 claims (55 percent), there had been no harmful negligence, and

payment on behalf of the neurologist occurred only once. The other 19

claims had negligent harm, but in 13 of them (68 percent) no payment was

made on behalf of the negligent neurologist. In our series, the medical

negligence system performed poorly, yielding a majority of inappropriate

claims and no payment in a majority of appropriate claims.

Several studies have investigated whether medical negligence claims yield

merited outcomes.(1–9) We sought to expand this body of knowledge by

studying a series of claims against neurologists.

I. Methods

The data for the current study are identical to the data used in a previous

report,(10) but the data are analyzed differently here. The previous report,

emphasizing patient safety, assessed whether the neurologist committed

*Address correspondence to Lee D. Cranberg, M.D., Division of Neurology, Cambridge Health

Alliance, 1493 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02139; phone: 617-327-7290; fax: 617-327-3377;

email: Lee_Cranberg@hms.harvard.edu. Cranberg is also at Harvard Medical School. Glick is at

the Division of Neurology, Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School. Sato is at

Harvard Medical School and with The Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical

Institutions, Inc.

Journal of Empirical Legal Studies

Volume 4, Issue 1, 155–162, March 2007

©2007, Copyright the Authors

Journal compilation ©2007, Cornell Law School and Blackwell Publisher, Inc.

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