Higher lawsuit risks tied to some medical schools

But the study of malpractice claims did not explore why rates differ.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. Nov. 17, 2003.

Teresa Waters, PhD, and her co-authors are carefully couching their research findings. They don't want to risk some U.S. medical schools being labeled as losers.

Dr. Waters, an economist at the University of Tennessee's Center for Health Services Research in Memphis, and two colleagues examined medical malpractice claim databases and found a connection between where a physician attended medical school and the likelihood of the physician being sued for malpractice.

"Our analysis shows that physicians who graduate from high outlier or low outlier schools, their malpractice experience is influenced by that," Dr. Waters said.

Dr. Waters did not reveal which schools had the highest malpractice risk for graduates, but she did say that high outlier schools -- those that produced more graduates who were sued for malpractice -- were more likely to be public institutions and tended to be more recently established. Schools with graduates with the least risk for malpractice suits, the low outliers, tended to be those with fewer residents and fellows. The study was greeted with skepticism by medical school administrators.

Robert Watson, MD, senior associate dean for educational affairs at the University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, and a site examiner for the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, said he doesn't see a fundamental difference between public and private schools, except for tuition.

"I hope that nobody takes it too seriously," Dr. Watson said of the study.