A study in this month’s New England Journal of Medicine provides the most comprehensive analysis of the risk of liability claims by medical specialty in more than two decades, and reinforces the need to put an immediate end to medical lawsuit abuse. The study reports that in any given year, an average of 7.4 percent of doctors are faced with medical liability lawsuits, but nearly 80 percent of those claims result in no payment at all by the defendant. The likelihood of being faced with a medical liability lawsuit did not necessarily correlate to payment by a physician – further proof that the system is broken and does not serve the needs of patients. Neurosurgeons were the most likely to be targeted by personal injury lawyers, with over 19 percent of all neurosurgeons facing a medical liability lawsuit each year. However, they were less likely to be found negligent, and ranked 4th behind other surgical specialties in payments made to claimants. Unfortunately, over the course of a career, doctors practicing in high-risk specialties such as neurosurgery, thoracic-cardiovascular surgery, and orthopedic surgery were nearly guaranteed to face a medical liability lawsuit, with 99% these physicians expected to be sued at least once in their career. Even physicians in low-risk specialties, including pediatricians and family practitioners, faced a 75% chance of being sued over the course of their career. Protect Patients Now will continue its work to enact comprehensive federal reform of our medical liability system that ensures fair compensation to deserving patients and preserves patient access to quality medical care. To read the full study by the New England Journal of Medicine, click here.