KEY POINTS:
Compensation paid to patients who suffer medical misadventures has nearly doubled in the past five years and now costs taxpayers $50 million a year.
The payouts are administered by the Accident Compensation Corporation. The latest figures available, released to the Dominion Post under the Official Information Act, reveal 4670 claimants received $50.2 million in the year to July.
In 2001 there were 2643 claims costing $26 million.
The payouts go to patients who sustain a physical injury -- such as an adverse drug reaction or paralysis -- in treatment provided by registered medical professionals.
The injuries can also be caused by a delay in treatment or incorrect diagnoses.
The Medical Association said the hefty increase in payouts suggested the industry was becoming better at reporting medical misadventures. It was not that patients were more at risk of suffering a serious medical error, chairman Ross Boswell said.
The most expensive payout in 2001 was $348,839, but in the 2006 year the top claim was $1.2 million, ACC figures show.
ACC spokesman Laurie Edwards said the number of medical misadventure claims accepted had grown dramatically since the criteria was widened 18 months ago.
However, the average net cost per claim had remained relatively steady, and was about $10,000 a year.
From July last year, ACC had accepted claims under a new "treatment injury" category, which replaced medical misadventure, with claimants not having to prove medical error or show the injury suffered was a rare and severe medical mishap. The change was made in line with its "no-fault" policy.
- NZPA
