[Medical malpractice 2000. Malpractice from the viewpoint of expert witnesses if a malpractice insurance carrier].

Insurance industry statistics on medical malpractice are rare. The authors, who are in-house medical advisors of the Allianz Versicherungs-AG, report on their assessments of medical malpractice claims in 2000. Orthopedics/traumatology (24%) and gynecology/obstetrics (18%) are the medical fields in which liability demands are currently most frequent. Deviation from the medical state of the art (41%), false diagnosis (21%) and misinformation of patients (13%) are the main actual or alleged violations of the duty of care. The results, which are meant to provide a basis for future comparisons, are discussed with a view to establishing risk management strategies. On the basis of the literature and their own the authors have compiled a set of recommendations--"Ten commandments"--for decreasing medical malpractice claims.