COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio is among the top 10 worst states for medical malpractice in the United States, a recent study found.
Ohio-based The Fitch Law Firm analyzed data from the National Practitioner Data Bank, a database operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that keeps track of all official reports that allege medical malpractice.
The study compiled reports made against healthcare practitioners, entities, providers and suppliers from 2019 to 2023 for all 50 states. The firm then compared those numbers against each state’s population and calculated the average number of reports per 100,000 residents.
The analysis found Ohio had the ninth-highest rate of reported medical malpractice incidents in the country. The Buckeye State had an average of 22.57 reports per 100,000 people each year.
Louisiana was the state that experienced the most medical malpractice, according to the study, with an average of 33.88 reports made per 100,000 residents.
The Pelican State was followed by Colorado at No. 2 (29.70), Kansas at No. 3 (27.96), Wyoming at No. 4 (27.37), Oregon at No. 5 (24.91), Alaska at No. 6 (23.27), West Virginia at No. 7 (23.12), Maine at No. 8 (23.03) and Michigan at No. 10 (21.64).
The state with the lowest rate of medical malpractice incidents was Idaho (6.46), followed by Hawaii (7.40), North Carolina (9.53), Connecticut (9.97), Missouri (10.89), New York (11.19), Massachusetts (11.72), Rhode Island (11.83), Minnesota (11.88) and Georgia (12.02).
