Medical Malpractice Statistics (2026): Payouts, Caps & Claims by State
Medical malpractice statistics are some of the most misquoted numbers in law. A single "average payout" gets repeated across hundreds of pages, often without a date or a source, and almost never with the caveats that make it meaningful. This report pulls the most reliable public data, chiefly the NPDB, which the federal government has maintained since 1990, and lays out what it can and cannot tell you about how often claims happen, what they pay, and why the same injury is worth far more in one state than another.
The national picture: claims and payouts
Every malpractice payment made on behalf of a licensed practitioner must, by law, be reported to the NPDB. That makes it the closest thing the United States has to a national malpractice database, but it is a record of payments, not of lawsuits filed, cases won, or errors committed. Verdicts paid directly are reported, but cases that are dismissed or that resolve with no payment are not, and payments made solely by a hospital or corporation (with no named practitioner) can fall outside it. So when you read "the average malpractice payout is $420,000," the accurate version is: the average paid claim reported to the NPDB in 2023 was about $420,000.
Medical malpractice payouts by state
The tables below use NPDB-derived data compiled by Physicians Thrive for 2014–2023. Read them as a measure of total dollars and claim volume, not of malpractice risk: New York and California lead largely because they are big states with many physicians and patients.
| State | Total payout | Number of claims | Approx. avg. per claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $6.298 billion | 14,359 | ~$439,000 |
| Pennsylvania | $3.176 billion | 7,687 | ~$413,000 |
| Florida | $3.080 billion | 11,247 | ~$274,000 |
| California | $2.438 billion | 11,183 | ~$218,000 |
| New Jersey | $2.373 billion | 5,539 | ~$428,000 |
| Illinois | $2.336 billion | 3,809 | ~$613,000 |
| Massachusetts | $1.626 billion | 2,624 | ~$620,000 |
| Georgia | $1.405 billion | 3,004 | ~$468,000 |
| Texas | $1.086 billion | 5,583 | ~$195,000 |
| Maryland | $944.62 million | 2,311 | ~$409,000 |
| State | Total payout | Number of claims |
|---|---|---|
| Idaho | $145.06 million | 357 |
| Alaska | $138.35 million | 193 |
| Puerto Rico | $128.53 million | 2,152 |
| Delaware | $114.92 million | 279 |
| Montana | $112.94 million | 380 |
| South Dakota | $97.65 million | 177 |
| District of Columbia | $86.24 million | 185 |
| Wyoming | $55.97 million | 142 |
| Vermont | $55.11 million | 136 |
| North Dakota | $24.89 million | 88 |
Notice that the per-claim average can be higher in states with fewer total dollars. Illinois and Massachusetts, neither of which enforces a non-economic damage cap, post some of the highest averages per claim, while Texas and California, both of which cap damages, sit far lower despite large populations. That is not a coincidence. The single biggest structural driver of how much a malpractice claim pays is the state's damage-cap law.
Why the same injury pays differently by state: damage caps
A damage cap is a state law that limits how much a patient can recover, usually for non-economic damages such as pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. Economic damages, medical bills and lost wages, are typically not capped, but the non-economic cap is what limits recovery in the most devastating cases, where the human loss far exceeds the receipts. Caps are the most contested feature of malpractice law, and they keep moving: several states have raised, struck down, or rewritten their caps in just the last few years.
| State | Cap on non-economic damages | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| California | $350,000 (injury) / $500,000 (death), 2023 start | Rising $40K/$50K per year to $750K/$1M by 2033, then inflation (AB 35) |
| Texas | $250,000 per provider; $500,000 aggregate | Fixed since 2003 (HB 4), no inflation adjustment |
| Wisconsin | $750,000 | Upheld by the state Supreme Court (2018) |
| Tennessee | $750,000; $1,000,000 for catastrophic injury | , |
| Maryland | ~$755,000 (rises ~$15,000/year) | Increases annually; confirm current-year figure |
| Michigan | ~$400,000 / ~$700,000 (catastrophic) | Base figures adjusted upward for inflation each year |
| Colorado | Rising toward $875,000 by 2029 | Phased increases (HB24-1472), inflation every 2 years |
| Louisiana | $500,000 total cap | Caps total damages, not just non-economic; lowest in the U.S. |
| New York | No cap | Never enacted a cap |
| Pennsylvania | No cap | State constitution bars caps on general damages |
| Illinois | No cap | Cap struck down as unconstitutional (2010) |
| Florida | No cap | Cap struck down as unconstitutional (2017) |
Six states, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Virginia, cap total damages rather than just the non-economic portion, which can limit even large economic losses. Meanwhile, at least nine states have had malpractice caps declared unconstitutional by their courts, and the trend continues: Arizona's Supreme Court struck down a state cap as recently as 2025. Because these laws change so often, treat any cap figure, including ours, as a snapshot to verify, not a permanent rule. Our medical malpractice settlement calculator applies your state's cap to a rough estimate so you can see the effect for yourself.
Which specialties get sued most
| Specialty | % ever sued |
|---|---|
| General surgeons | 90% |
| OB/GYN & women's health | 85% |
| Orthopedic surgeons | 82% |
| Otolaryngologists (ENT) / Radiologists / Urologists | 72% |
| Emergency medicine | 71% |
| Cardiologists / Gastroenterologists | 64% |
| Anesthesiologists | 57% |
| Dermatologists / Psychiatrists | Low |
These are lifetime figures, so high percentages partly reflect long careers and the fact that a suit being filed is not a finding of fault. But the pattern is real and consistent across data sources: the most common allegations nationally are diagnostic failure (missed or delayed diagnosis), surgical error, treatment failure, and birth injury, the categories that most often produce permanent harm and, therefore, the largest payouts.
How often claims happen, and how often patients win
This cuts against the popular image of a litigation explosion. Medical malpractice accounts for less than 5% of all personal-injury cases pending nationwide, and only about 17,000 malpractice suits are filed in a typical year. Set that against estimates of patient harm and the striking finding is the opposite of frivolity: most medical errors never become claims at all. Research suggests only about 1% to 2% of adverse medical events ever lead to a malpractice claim or payout.
The harm side of that ledger is genuinely contested. A widely cited Johns Hopkins analysis put U.S. deaths from medical error around 250,000 per year, which would rank it among the leading causes of death, but that estimate is debated, and other researchers consider it too high because of how it extrapolates from small samples. What is not seriously disputed is the direction: documented patient harm vastly exceeds the number of malpractice claims, so the system compensates only a small fraction of those injured.
What these statistics can, and can't, tell you
If you take one thing from the data, make it this: the malpractice system is narrow and uneven. It compensates a small share of injured patients, pays most of them modestly, reserves the large numbers for the most catastrophic cases, and lets the dollar value of an identical injury depend heavily on which state line it falls on. For how those forces translate into an actual claim value, see our companion guide to average medical malpractice settlement amounts. For related injury data, see our reports on the average car accident settlement and wrongful death settlements.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average medical malpractice payout?
The average paid malpractice claim reported to the NPDB in 2023 was about $420,000, on roughly 11,440 paid claims totaling $4.8 billion. That average is skewed upward by a small number of multimillion-dollar cases, most paid claims are under $100,000, so the typical (median) claim is considerably lower. The figure also reflects only claims that were paid, not the much larger number of claims that are dismissed or never filed.
Which state has the most medical malpractice payouts?
By total dollars, New York leads, about $6.3 billion across 14,359 paid claims from 2014 to 2023, followed by Pennsylvania, Florida, and California. But these totals mostly reflect population and the number of physicians and patients, not how risky a state's medicine is. States without damage caps, such as Illinois and Massachusetts, tend to post the highest average payout per claim.
Which states have no cap on medical malpractice damages?
As of 2025–2026, several states do not enforce a cap on non-economic malpractice damages, either because they never enacted one or because courts struck it down. These include New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, and Washington, among others. In these states a jury's award is generally not reduced by a statutory cap, which is one reason average payouts there run higher.
What specialty gets sued for malpractice most often?
Surgical and obstetric specialties carry the highest lifetime risk. In survey data, roughly 90% of general surgeons and 85% of OB/GYNs report having been sued at least once, compared with much lower rates in fields like psychiatry and dermatology. The most common allegations are diagnostic failure, surgical error, treatment failure, and birth injury.
How often do patients win medical malpractice cases?
Not often. Only about 20% to 30% of malpractice cases that go to trial end in a plaintiff verdict, and most claims are dropped, dismissed, or settled before trial. The rate of paid claims has also declined over the past decade. Malpractice is, on the data, under-litigated rather than over-litigated: only an estimated 1% to 2% of medical errors ever result in a claim.
Is the NPDB a complete record of medical malpractice?
No. The National Practitioner Data Bank records malpractice payments made on behalf of licensed practitioners, so it captures settlements and paid verdicts but excludes cases that are dismissed or resolved without payment, and it can miss payments made solely by a hospital or corporation with no named practitioner. It is the best national source available, but it understates both the number of claims and the amount of underlying patient harm.
This report is for general informational purposes and is not legal or medical advice. Figures are drawn from the public sources cited above and reflect paid claims and reported lawsuits, which understate true rates of medical error; your situation may differ substantially. Damage-cap laws change frequently, verify the current rule in your state. If you believe you or a family member was harmed by medical negligence, consult a licensed medical malpractice attorney about your specific facts and your state's filing deadline. An AI Lawyer can help you understand the process and organize your records, but it does not replace professional legal counsel.