Which US states have the highest likelihood of surgical errors by doctors?

If you don’t want to end up botched, you may want to think twice before booking surgery in New York.

According to an analysis conducted by DailyMail.com, the state of New York had the highest number of medical malpractice settlements per healthcare provider in the United States. This includes doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and physician associates, with figures approximately double the national average.

The analysis, which examined over 1 million claims filed between 2004 and 2024, revealed that the overall rate in the US was approximately 313 payments per 1,000 providers. On average, each settled lawsuit resulted in a payout of around $313,000.

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.

One of the highest settlement amounts reported was $120 million paid out in 2023 to Lee Williams, a 41-year-old commercial real estate broker. Williams now lives with permanent brain damage due to doctors’ alleged failure to promptly diagnose his stroke.

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. 

The data did not reveal details of the malpractice claims or an explanation for the rates, but major cities — such as New York — tend to have a greater number of hospitals and healthcare workers that are willing to take on more complicated cases where there may be a higher risk of treatment error.

Specifically, New York — which has the most practicing doctors and healthcare workers, at 35,000 — is also one of 21 states that does not cap the level of payment for medical malpractice claims, according to attorneys Miler and Zois, which may encourage more patients to file lawsuits seeking a settlement. 

The higher number of payment reports in New York could also be due to its legal framework, attorneys suggest, which tends to favor patients.

Following New York was Pennsylvania with about 503 medical malpractice settlements per 1,000 healthcare providers — and an average payout of $376,000.

New Mexico was third with 442 settlements per 1,000 providers, and an average payment of $295,000 per report.

New Jersey came in fourth — at about 418 settlements per 1,000 practitioners — and an average of $386,000 payments per patient.

And Florida was fifth, with 405 per 1,000 providers — and about $255,000 per payment on average.

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. 

The rate of medical malpractice claims was highest in New York, data suggests (stock image)

The data did not reveal the reason for filing the cases, but a 2020 survey suggested the most common reason is misdiagnosis, which can delay vital care for patients, potentially leading to harms.

According to the report from Standards of Care — which campaigns for quality healthcare in the US — this accounted for 32 percent of medical malpractice claims.

Botched surgery or procedures where mistakes were made were the second most common, with about 25 percent of cases. 

Details on specific cases were not included in the database but there have been plenty of high-profile cases during the years analyzed.

In 2024, a lawsuit was filed against Florida doctor Berto Lopez over claims he accidentally cut off the head of a newborn baby’s penis during a circumcision.

And in November 2023, patient Peter Wang was awarded a payment of $7million after he claimed an ophthalmologist misdiagnosed an infection in his left eye, leading him to go blind in the eye and eventually requiring surgery to remove it.

In a record case from Pennsylvania in June last year, $183million was awarded to the family of a child born at a local hospital after they claimed the baby suffered severe brain injuries during birth from being deprived of oxygen.

And so far this year, in New York state a 65-year-old man received a $60million payout after a routine epidural injection allegedly left him permanently paralyzed and a woman received $7million after she claimed to be left with significant pain following hip surgery. 

For the analysis, DailyMail.com extracted data from the National Practitioner Data Bank — a database run by the Department of Health and Human Services that tracks medical malpractice claims in the US.

This records all medical malpractice payments made by providers and entities — such as hospitals and clinics — in the US. 

It records all payments made by these bodies whether in court or due to out-of-court settlements.

But it may not record all cases where payments related to medical malpractice are made by an individual, such as a doctor. 

Data on the total number of medical malpractice payments made from 2004 to 2024 was extracted, as well as the total number of active providers in each state.

This was analyzed to calculate the rate of medical malpractice claims per 1,000 practitioners per state.

The database also tracks the total amount paid out over medical malpractice claims, finding New York also had the highest total pay outs over the two decades tracked — at $14billion.

Next was Pennsylvania, with $7billion, and third was Florida, with $6billion. California was fourth at $5billion.