Each year, hundreds of thousands of people are injured or killed in the United States as a result of preventable medical errors. While not every bad outcome is due to malpractice, many of these errors are and lead to medical malpractice claims and payments to the victims and their families.
According to the National Practitioner Databank (NPDB), a web-based repository of reports on medical malpractice payments established by Congress in 1986, there were 4,027 medical malpractice payments made in Illinois between 2015 and 2024.
At Clifford Law Offices, we examined the data provided by the NPDB to provide more information on these payments and the basis for them. Below, we provide more context to Illinois medical malpractice statistics based on payment data.
Medical Malpractice Payment Statistics by Year
In 2024, payments remained steady at 426, just one fewer than in 2023, trailing only 2017 for the most payments in a single year during the observation period.
While overall payments mirrored 2023, the NPDB tracks the amount of claims in ranges. Most ranges were relatively flat. However, a significant increase occurred in payments in the $250,001–$500,000 range, which rose by 50% compared to the previous year, from 68 payments in 2023 to 102 in 2024.
Patient Outcome: Analysis of Injury Severity
Medical errors can lead to a range of outcomes in terms of injury severity, from minor injuries that resolve over time to severe, permanent injury and even death. Patient death was the underlying reason for 33% of malpractice payments in Illinois, slightly higher than the nationwide average of 26%.
Medical Malpractice Payments by Sex of Patient
Female patients accounted for a higher number of total medical malpractice payments in Illinois, with 2,184 malpractice payments to female patients during the 10-year observation period, compared to 1,836 payments to male patients.
The basis of malpractice payment differed by sex as well. Female patients were more likely to receive a malpractice payment related to emotional injury, minor permanent injury, major permanent injury, and significant permanent injury.
Allegations of Medical Malpractice: What Error or Omission Was the Basis of the Payment?
Improper performance and failure to diagnose were the most common reasons for malpractice payments, accounting for 19% and 17% of all malpractice payments, respectively.
Which Errors Resulted in the Highest Payments?
Failure to diagnose was more frequently associated with higher-value malpractice payments. These errors accounted for 23% of payments exceeding $1 million compared to 17% of those at or below this amount.
Which Medical Licenses Are Associated with the Most Malpractice Payments in Illinois?
As you might expect, doctors were listed as the most common practitioners in Illinois medical malpractice payments. Physicians (Doctor of Medicine or MDs specifically) were associated with the majority of malpractice payments, accounting for 66% of the total.
Methodology/analysis notes
This analysis is for informational purposes only, to provide more context on medical malpractice statistics in Illinois. For more information about the situation in the country as a whole, our team also examined data at the US level.
The total number of payments in Illinois is based on practitioners’ work state license and home state license when the work state is missing, as per the methodological note:
“Other actions and malpractice payments might best be assigned based on the practitioner’s work State. However, work State is not a required variable in reports; reporters must report either work State or home State. They may report both.”
The year range is based on the “ORIGYEAR” variable, the year the original version of this record was processed into the National Practitioner Data Bank. According to the methodology, “Reports must be made to the Data Bank within 30 days of a payment, so in most cases this value represents the year the payment was made.”