New Data Shows 124,317 Medical Malpractice Payouts Recorded in U.S. Over 10 Years

A federal database analysis reveals which errors, practitioners, and states drive the highest costs in American healthcare litigation

A new data analysis of 124,317 medical malpractice payouts spanning 2015 to 2025 finds that treatment errors, diagnostic failures, and surgical mistakes represent the most common and costly categories of healthcare negligence in the United States. The study, conducted by Chicago-based medical malpractice firm Gill Ports Hoste LLC in partnership with research firm 1Point21 Interactive, draws on public use data from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), a federal repository maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that tracks all malpractice payouts resulting from settlements or judgments.

The analysis examines how payout volumes and dollar amounts vary by error type, injury severity, practitioner category, and state, offering one of the most detailed portraits of American malpractice litigation in recent years.

“The data indicates a shift worth examining closely at the practitioner level,” said a senior research analyst involved in the study. “While physicians generate the highest volume of total payouts, certain specialist categories carry disproportionate per-case financial exposure, and that distinction matters for understanding systemic risk.”

Key Findings

• Over 124,317 medical malpractice payouts were recorded in the NPDB between 2015 and 2025, capturing only cases that resulted in a settlement or judgment against the practitioner.
• The largest single payout in the dataset exceeded $100 million, tied to a “Performance of Wrong Procedure” case that resulted in significant permanent injury.
• Nurse midwives carry the highest average payout of any practitioner category at $860,497 per case, and 11% of their payouts exceed $1 million, the highest share among all practitioner types.
• Physicians account for the greatest volume of total payouts overall, consistent with their dominant share of patient interactions across specialties.
• Grave permanent injuries produce the highest average payouts in the dataset, surpassing even cases involving patient death, a finding that underscores the long-term economic burden of surviving a severe medical error.
• Minor temporary injuries rank second in total payout volume; however, only 0.55% of those cases result in payouts exceeding $1 million.

The data also reveals notable geographic concentration. States without statutory caps on malpractice damages account for a disproportionate share of high-dollar payouts, while heavily populated states such as California and Texas, which impose strict damage limits, do not appear among the top ten states for total payout volume.

“This gap between population size and payout volume in damage-cap states is one of the clearest illustrations of how tort law shapes litigation outcomes,” noted a lead data analyst on the project. “The same injury, in the same specialty, can produce a vastly different financial result depending solely on state law.”

Why This Matters

The findings arrive amid a documented long-term decline in medical malpractice case frequency, a trend attributed by researchers to tort reform, higher barriers to filing, and reduced attorney willingness to take cases given elevated litigation costs. Yet even as case volumes fall, average payout sizes have trended upward, and seven-figure settlements are becoming more common. This combination means that the financial exposure per case is rising even as overall claim counts decrease, a dynamic with significant implications for malpractice insurers, hospital risk managers, and patient advocates. For patients who do experience serious harm, the data reinforces that outcome severity, practitioner type, and state of treatment all materially affect whether and how much compensation is recovered.

Methodology

This analysis uses the National Practitioner Data Bank’s public use data file, covering medical malpractice payment reports from 2015 through 2025. The NPDB records only closed cases that resulted in a payment on behalf of the practitioner; cases in which the provider prevailed or the claim was dismissed are excluded. Data were grouped by error type, injury severity, practitioner license category, and state. The full study is published at https://www.gphlaw.com/medical-malpractice-in-america-a-10-year-analysis/.

About Gill Ports Hoste LLC

Gill Ports Hoste LLC is a Chicago-based medical malpractice and personal injury law firm with more than 90 years of collective attorney experience. The firm represents patients and families across Illinois in cases involving surgical errors, diagnostic failures, nursing negligence, and wrongful death. Gill Ports Hoste has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for injured clients, including multiple eight-figure verdicts and settlements.

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