22 specialties with the highest malpractice frequency

Surgery is the specialty with the highest malpractice lawsuit frequency, while psychiatry has the lowest, a Medscape report found.

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The report, “Is Your Risk of Being Sued Climbing? Physicians and Malpractice Report 2023,” comes from a survey of 3,037 physicians in 29 specialties between May and July. The survey found the most common allegations for malpractice suits were failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis (35%), complications from treatment or surgery (27%), and failure to treat or delayed treatment (22%).

Here are 22 specialties ranked by frequency of malpractice suits:

Surgery, general: 90%

OB-GYN: 85%

Orthopedics: 82%

Plastic surgery: 73%

Otolaryngology: 72%

Radiology: 72%

Urology: 72%

Emergency medicine: 71%

Critical care: 66%

Cardiology: 64%

Gastroenterology: 64%

Neurology: 59%

Anesthesiology: 57%

Infectious disease: 50%

Ophthalmology: 49%

Oncology: 47%

Internal medicine: 46%

Family medicine: 45%

Physical medicine and rehabilitation: 45%

Pathology: 44%

Pediatrics: 43%

Psychiatry: 30%

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