According to a new survey conducted by the American Medical Association (AMA), more than 60 percent of doctors, age 55 or higher, have been sued at least once for medical malpractice. Taking into account that some of these cases will vary in result, the survey still shows that most physicians will be sued for medical malpractice at least once in their careers. "This works out to an average of 95 medical malpractice lawsuits having been filed for every 100 physicians now in practice.

Despite the high number of doctors that are sued sometime in their careers, the survey found that only 5 percent of doctors are sued on an annual basis. In addition, certain specialized practices, such as general surgeons and Ob/Gyns, were more than five times more likely to be sued than pediatricians and psychiatrists. According to the data, about half (50 percent) of obstetricians/gynecologists under the age of 40 had faced a suit. This number jumped to 90 percent for those surgeons age 55 or over.

One interesting finding from the survey revealed that male physicians are twice as likely to face a suit as woman. The report rationales this finding by saying that more male physicians are found in specialized practices compared to their female counterparts.

The AMA looked at data from 5,825 physicians from the 2007-2008 Physician Practice Information (PPI) survey. The survey was funded by the AMA and more than 40 national medical specialty associations.

Source: ABC News "Most Doctors Will Face Malpractice Suit, AMA Says" 08/05/2010