Abstract
In the last ten years, medical malpractice litigation has been increasing in Japan.
The Supreme Court records revealed that the number of medical lawsuits each year has increased (from 442 in 1992 to 896 in 2002).
We reviewed the medical malpractice claims reported by 5,000 Japan Medical Association (JMA) members' offices and 500 group-subscripted hospitals in Osaka. The reported number of claims each by year has increased (from 190 in 1992 to 306 in 2002).
The claims in JMA members' office gradually increased (from 65 in 1992 to 82 in 2002), while the claims in hospitals showed a marked increase during the same period (from 125 to 224).
The yearly trends were basically similar in both the Supreme Court lawsuit records and the medical malpractice claims in Osaka.
It turned out that both those claims with a payment amount of less than $9,000 and with severe injury induced by substandard care were mainly settled out-of-court. Those types of cases have been increasing recently in Osaka (now 60% of total claims).
The increase in payment for compensation has brought an increased cost of insurance coverage for hospitals in the group subscription already. Medical risk management in hospital is very important to avoid a medical malpractice crisis in Japan.
