A study by Toho University School of Pharmacy lecturer Hideaki Hiraga and others found that the incidence of medical-related lawsuits tends to be significantly higher in Tokyo and Osaka Prefecture, regardless of whether the calculation is based on population, number of medical institutions, or number of doctors and dentists. With the cooperation of the Supreme Court, the incidence rate by prefecture was calculated.
According to Toho University, Lecturer Hiraga and his research group compiled the number of medical-related lawsuits filed in district courts across the country between 2005 and 2021 and used statistical methods to analyze regional differences.
As a result, the median incidence rate of medical-related lawsuits per 100 million people per year was 6.30, while in Tokyo it was 12.97, in Osaka Prefecture it was 10.99, while in Ibaraki Prefecture it was 1.77, and in Fukushima Prefecture it was 1.93.
The median number of cases per 1,000 medical facilities was 4.38 per year, while Tokyo stood out with 6.99 cases and Osaka with 6.68 cases. Meanwhile, Ibaraki Prefecture had 1.52 cases and Fukushima Prefecture had 1.59 cases.
The median number of cases per 1,000 physicians and dentists was 1.92 per year, with Osaka Prefecture at 3.05 and Tokyo at 2.79, both significantly higher. Meanwhile, Ibaraki Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture had significantly lower rates, at 0.73 and 0.76, respectively.
The research group believes that the regional differences in incidence rates may be due not only to the number of medical malpractice cases, but also to factors such as the number of lawyers with expertise in medical matters.
Paper information:[Journal of the Society for Quality and Safety in Healthcare] Incidence of medical-related lawsuits by medical institution in Japan
