He also noted that malpractice settlements of less than $25,000 did not have to be reported to the medical board.

Payments in medical malpractice settlements or judgments may alone account for 30,000 to 40,000 entries a year.

Payments in medical malpractice settlements or judgments may account for 30,000 to 40,000 of the entries.

Under current law, malpractice settlements are frequently not made public, and information about lawsuits can be scattered in several counties.

Insurers have indeed been paying more in recent years to cover lawsuits and malpractice settlements.

Nationally, there is no question that insurer payouts to cover malpractice settlements and verdicts have been rising.

Combined, the total annual amount of malpractice settlements and judgments rose to $5.05 billion in 2001 from $3.66 billion a decade ago, adjusted for inflation.

He was awarded $600,000 in a malpractice settlement in 1984.

Moreover, legal restrictions on disclosure imposed as part of malpractice settlements may hide some cases.

The most costly malpractice settlements involved obstetrics cases in which a child was born with serious health problems.