Medical malpractice web advertising: a qualitative, cross-sectional analysis of plaintiff medical malpractice firms in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

Medical malpractice plaintiff firms play a central role in the prosecution of malpractice claims. There have been limited studies on the online advertising practices of plaintiff medical malpractice firms. The Martindale-Hubbell directory was used to identify all plaintiff medical malpractice firms in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Each firm's website was individually mined for relevant data. Thirty-one unique medical malpractice law firms were identified. Seventy-seven percent of law firms advertised awards with the Martindale-Hubbell AV rating, AVVO, and Super Lawyer being the three most common. The second most common method of advertising was accomplished through descriptions of successful verdicts and settlements (61%). A total of 408 verdicts, settlements, and arbitrations collectively representing $1.4 billion dollars were advertised by all law firms. Median awarded values for verdicts was advertised as $4.5 million, while the median awarded values for settlements was $1.25 million. Defendants most commonly practiced obstetrics (18%), followed by primary care (14%). Law firms report treatment and diagnosis delay as the most common successful claim (50%), followed much further by misdiagnosis (8%), and communication error (4%). Our sample correlates with larger claims-based studies surrounding the most commonly sued specialties, however, median reported settlement and verdict values were significantly higher in our cohort. Considerations should be made to provide advertising guidelines for medical malpractice plaintiff firms.