The National Practioners Data Bank collects data about malpractice claims paid by health care professionals. The NPDB has a report that lists all of medical malpractice paid claims against all Tennessee health care providers between September 1, 1990 through November 29, 2009, a period one month short of 20 years. To understand what data is collected by the NPDB click here.
The total number of paid claims against all health care providers in the United States is 340,463, or about 17,000 claims per year. Recall the National Institute of Medicine said that there were 98,000 documented deaths per year in our nation’s hospitals.
After the jump I have listed the number of paid claims by type of provider in Tennessee. The data does not include hospitals or nursing homes except to the extent the payment was made by a hospital or nursing home on behalf of an individual provider after receipt of a written claim or lawsuit.
I have not added up the Tennessee claims but the number is less than 4500 in the course of 20 years or about 225 per year.
Acupuncturist – 0
Audiologist – 0
Certified Nurse Asst / Aide – 0
Chiropractor – 57
Clinical Psychologist – 5
Mental Health Counselor – 1
Dental Assistant – 1
Dental Hygienist – 1
Dental Resident – 3
Dentist – 394
EMT Basic – 3
EMT Paramedic – 3
LPN – 39
Nuclear Med. Tech – 1
Nurse Anesthetist – 54
Nurse Midwife – 7
Nurse Practitioner – 33
Nurse’s Aide – 4
Occupational Therapist – 3
Ocularist – 1
Optician – 1
Optometrist – 12
Osteopath – 123
Osteopath Resident – 1
Pharmacist – 64
Pharmacy Asst. – 2
Physical Therapist – 15
PT Asst – 1
Physician – 3,162
Physician Asst. – 25
Physician Intern – 14
Podiatrist – 90
Podiatrist Asst. – 2
Profession Not Listed – 8
Professional Counselors – 7
Psychologist – 2
Radiation Tech – 3
Registered Nurse – 115
Resp. Therapist – 1
Resp. Therapy Tech – 1