Age and professional experience increase the risk of encountering legal malpractice claims among emergency service physicians

Encountering legal malpractice claims has become a part of the professional careers of emergency physicians. Various studies have investigated the risk of encountering a malpractice claim. However, the factors defining that risk still remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the primary causes affecting the risk of encountering malpractice claims for emergency physicians, such as their age, gender, and duration of professional experience.
This study consisted of a survey conducted in an electronic environment with emergency physicians.
A total of 212 emergency physicians volunteered to participate in the study. Of these, 61.8% were male, 49.1% had encountered malpractice allegations, and 40.1% had been subjected to an institutional investigation. A relationship was found between the status of being subjected to an institutional investigation and the average age, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.03). No statistically significant relationship was observed between gender and the status of being subjected to an institutional investigation (P = 0.778). The duration of professional experience in the emergency department was found to be related to the status of being subjected to an institutional investigation (P < 0.001) and a judicial investigation (P < 0.02).
For emergency physicians, the increasing duration of professional experience in the emergency department and age are two natural factors that increase the risk of encountering malpractice claims; gender does not affect that risk.