A common thought among jurors these days is that bad things will happen to the defendant doctor if they find against him, and as a consequence, bad things might happen to the juror or her family. This is particularly true in more rural areas. A verdict against a local doctor might mean his insurance rates rise, they leave the area, and there won’t be enough doctors around to care for the juror or her family. At the very least, the common thinking goes, the doctor will lose his ability to practice – his license will be revoked.

As disconcerting as these thoughts are, they are far from the truth. And these common misconceptions make it difficult for patient victims to get justice in the courtroom. As a result, both sides account for this bias in attempting to resolve claims prior to trial, often meaning discounted settlements for patient victims.

I have yet to see statistics on the exact correlation between malpractice payouts and doctors losing their licenses, but recently there has been some investigation into this in Florida. CBS was looking into a particular doctor there who had settled 11 malpractice claims in the last decade or so, and was continuing to practice medicine. The last claim his insurance carrier paid was due to a failure to monitor his patient post-operatively, resulting in death.

Digging further, CBS looked at the 25 doctors in Florida with the most malpractice payouts. They found that only four had lost their licenses, and three of those lost them due to either drug trafficking or billing fraud. The fourth lost his license after failing to comply with the terms of a lesser punishment, which meant that not one single doctor of the 25 with the most malpractice payouts lost their licenses solely for providing poor medical care.

These claims run the gamut, from birth injuries to emergency room mistakes, radiology misses and surgical malpractice. But the result is the same: doctors do not lose their licenses when they agree to settle claims against them.

Here is a link to the full article:

[Despite multiple malpractice payouts, doctors often keep practicing][1]

Certainly, it is not a fun experience to be the defendant in a medical malpractice lawsuit, or any lawsuit for that matter. I can understand empathy for those in that situation, and I typically feel empathy for those doctors I bring cases against. It’s natural.

But I know that the real victims in my cases are those who have suffered horribly – folks who have lost loved ones, folks in wheelchairs, folks with brain injuries who have lost the ability to think, lost the ability to see, lost their ability to be independent. I don’t feel bad because the doctor’s professional life is over, because it almost never is.

[1]: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/despite-multiple-malpractice-payouts-doctors-often-keep-practicing/ “Despite multiple malpractice payouts, doctors often keep practicing”