Which Country Has the World's Highest Number of Clinical Negligence Claims?

Identifying the precise number of clinical negligencemust establish a higher burden of proof in medical
claims raised each year in every country throughoutmalpractice or clinical negligence actions.
the world is by no means an easy task.The 0.6 per cent that is spent on clinical negligence
Understanding how such claims relate to thecosts could also merely highlight just how significant
countries' respective health care systems is eventhe private sector expenditure on health care is in
more of a challenge. In fact, it is almost impossible tothe US. Although the number of medical malpractice
accurately quantify in context the number and scopeclaims brought in the US has been on the decline for
of claims made throughout the world.the past two decades, the Journal of the American
There are many different reasons as to why oneMedical Association (JAMA) recently published
country will experience lower or higher numbers ofstatistics that suggest around 225,000 patients die
claims that another and it is difficult to draw anyevery year in the US due to the negative effects of
concrete comparisons at the supranational level.medication, complications from hospital-acquired
Indeed, a relatively poor record of clinical negligenceinfections, unnecessary surgery or hospital errors.
in one country might suggest a heavily litigiousGiven the scale of the US and the maturity of its
society, whilst an extremely positive record of claimslegal system, it is therefore reasonable to assume
in another may point to a legal system that does notthat it will have one of the highest numbers of clinical
robustly defend the public interest. In short, thenegligence cases globally.
number of these claims brought will naturally varyIn the UK, the number of claims has risen modestly
from one country to the next, but the inevitableduring recent years, despite the fact that
differences observed between nations is not usuallycompensation payouts have risen sharply. Such a
helpful in understanding how their health care anddiscrepancy further dilutes the benefits of looking at
legal systems interact.the number of claims made as a model of accurately
Rather than look at the specific number of clinicalassessing a country's health care system. The largest
negligence claims brought in a given country, it iscompensation payout awarded in 2009 was for
sometimes more revealing to examine the£7.6 million excluding legal costs.
percentage of total health care costs that can beMany clinical negligence cases involve substantially
attributed to clinical negligence compensation. In thehigher legal costs than actual compensation awarded,
US, which is widely regarded as an extremely litigiouswhich further distorts the statistics. In 2000, the
country, only 0.6 per cent of health care costs areWorld Health Organization (WHO) published a list of
spent on medical malpractice lawsuits - the lowestthe best and worst countries for health care. France
figure since the early 1990's. The reduction in USheaded the rankings, with Italy, San Marino, Andorra,
clinical negligence costs, however, does notMalta, Singapore, Spain, Oman, Austria and Japan filling
necessarily indicate that doctors have suddenlyout the top ten. The UK was ranked 18th and the US
determined to perform their duties more carefully. In37th.
fact, state level tort reform has meant that claimants