Attitudes about Medical Malpractice: An American Society of Neuroradiology Survey

The concern over medicolegal liability is pervasive among physicians. We sought, through an email survey to the members of the ASNR, to assess the experience with and attitudes about the medicolegal environment among neuroradiologists. Of 4357 physicians surveyed, 904 answered at least 1 of the questions in the survey; 449 of 904 (49.7%) had been sued: 180 (44.9%) had been sued once, 114 (28.4%) twice, 60 (15.0%) 3 times, and 47 (11.7%) more than 3 times. The payouts for suits were most commonly in the $50,000 to $150,000 range, except for interventional neuroradiologists, in whom the most common value was $600,000 to $1,200,000. Only 9 of 481 (1.9%) of suits returned a plaintiff verdict. Despite reported outcomes that favored physicians with respect to cases being dropped (270/481 = 56.1%), settled without a payment (11/481 = 2.3%), or a defense verdict (46/481 = 9.6), most respondents (81.1%, 647/798) believed that the medicolegal system was weighted toward plaintiffs. More than half of the neuroradiologists (55.2%, 435/787) reported being mildly to moderately concerned, and 19.1% (150/787) were very or extremely concerned about being sued. An email survey yielded over 900 responses from neuroradiologists with regard to their experiences and attitudes about the medicolegal environment. Nearly one-half of neuroradiologists had been sued once, while over 10% had been sued more than 3 times with payouts in the range of US $50,000-$150,000 and up to $1.2 million for lawsuits affecting interventional neuroradiologists. Over 80% of neuroradiologists opined that the system was weighted toward plaintiffs and nearly 20% expressed being extremely concerned about being sued.