<span itemprop="author">Howard Smith, MD

Eighty-five thousand medical malpractice lawsuits are filed per year, but the total number of claims reviewed by lawyers is unknown. What underlies their decision to proceed is their inability to determine which complication results from a systemic med…

All medical malpractice lawsuits stem from complications caused by medical interventions. Some complications are random errors of nature, which are unpreventable. Others are systemic medical errors, caused by medical interventions gone astray. Clinical…

Risk management has been around for centuries. In ancient times, there were oracles and soothsayers. In the 1950s, risk management became a science. Nevertheless, 75 years later, a medical malpractice lawsuit is still a problem. An unknown number of cl…

In ancient times, there were oracles and soothsayers. In the 1950s, risk management becomes a science. Nevertheless, there are 85,000 medical malpractice lawsuits filed per year. They are problematic, not because they overwhelm court dockets, but becau…

In ancient times, there were oracles and soothsayers. Risk management was not a science until the 1950s. However, a medical malpractice lawsuit is still a problem in need of a skilled risk manager, not an oracle or a soothsayer. Today, there are 1 mill…

Doctors are plagued by medical malpractice lawsuits. Every year, there are 85,000 lawsuits filed, of which 66.6 percent are frivolous. Each doctor has an 8.5 percent chance per year of being sued. In the course of my efforts to make a difference, I per…

Every year, there are 85,000 medical malpractice lawsuits, of which 66.6 percent are frivolous. In the course of my endeavor to remedy frivolous medical malpractice claims, I introduce myself to 50 of the nation’s most prestigious medical malprac…

Today, a doctor’s chance of being sued for medical malpractice is 8.5 percent per year. The chance that the lawsuit is frivolous, meaning the alleged injury is from a random error of nature and not from an accidental medical error, is 66.6 percen…

Until now, when a lawsuit is frivolous, once a doctor who is the defendant prevails, the case concludes. However, there is a next step. Whether it is taken depends on this doctor. Prevailing means there is 95 percent confidence that the lawsuit is friv…

On August 6, 2021, a medical malpractice lawsuit was filed against me. The case involved care I provided between June 29, 2018, and August 3, 2018, while I was an employee at a medical weight loss clinic in Bethesda, Maryland. I resigned from that clin…