In New York, however, the rate was double that at 663 payments per 1,000 practitioners, with an average of $408,000 paid out per settlement.<\/p>\n
Among the most expensive was the $120million paid in 2023 to 41-year-old Lee Williams, a commercial real estate broker who now lives with permanent brain damage after doctors allegedly failed to swiftly diagnose his stroke.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Medical malpractice is when a healthcare professional fails to provide appropriate treatment, takes an improper action or gives substandard care. This often results in serious injury and long-term harm to patients, such as serious brain damage or the loss of a limb.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The data did not reveal details of the malpractice claims or an explanation for the rates, but major cities \u2014 such as New York \u2014 tend to have a greater number of hospitals and healthcare workers that are willing to take on more complicated cases\u00a0where there may be a higher risk of treatment error.<\/p>\n
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Specifically,\u00a0New York \u2014 which has the most practicing doctors and healthcare workers, at 35,000 \u2014 is also one of 21 states that does not cap the level of payment for medical malpractice claims, according to attorneys <\/a>Miler and Zois<\/a>,\u00a0which may encourage more patients to file lawsuits seeking a settlement.\u00a0<\/p>\n The higher number of payment reports in New York could also be due to its legal framework, attorneys suggest, which tends to favor patients.<\/p>\n Following New York was\u00a0Pennsylvania<\/a>\u00a0with about 503 medical malpractice settlements per 1,000 healthcare providers \u2014 and an average payout of $376,000.<\/p>\n New Mexico<\/a>\u00a0was third with 442 settlements per 1,000 providers, and an average payment of $295,000 per report.<\/p>\n New Jersey came in fourth \u2014 at about 418 settlements per 1,000 practitioners \u2014 and an average of $386,000 payments per patient.<\/p>\n And Florida was fifth, with 405 per 1,000 providers \u2014 and about $255,000 per payment on average.<\/p>\n The state with the lowest rate of medical malpractice settlements was Alabama, where there were 86 medical malpractice claims per 1,000 healthcare workers. North Dakota was second from bottom, at 113 per 1,000, and Minnesota had the third-lowest rate, at 124 per 1,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n The rate of medical malpractice claims was highest in New York, data suggests (stock image)<\/p>\n Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n The data did not reveal the reason for filing the cases,\u00a0but a 2020 survey <\/a>suggested the most common reason is misdiagnosis, which\u00a0can delay vital care for patients, potentially leading to harms.<\/p>\n According to the report from Standards of Care \u2014 which campaigns for quality healthcare in the US \u2014 this accounted for 32 percent of medical malpractice claims.<\/p>\n Botched surgery or procedures where mistakes were made were the second most common, with about 25 percent of cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n Details on specific cases were not included in the database but there have been plenty of high-profile cases during the years analyzed.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98456965-14707965-image-a-24_1747410216601.jpg\")
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