More than a quarter of surgical malpractice claims allege clinical misjudgment 

A report from the medical insurance company Coverys finds that 27% of claims related to surgical procedures allege a failure in clinical judgment or communication. The company analyzed more than 10,000 malpractice claims it handled between 2014-2018, and found that nearly half of the roughly 2,600 surgery-related claims involved just three specialties: general surgery, orthopedic surgery, and neurosurgery. Nearly 80% of the complaints about surgical procedures were about the surgeon and how they performed, while a minority took issue with a foreign object being left behind the body or an unnecessary procedure being performed. About 10% of the incidents behind surgical malpractice claims resulted in death.