I have settled thousands of PL claims due to negligence. You equate an "error" with negligence. They are not the same. A breach in the standard or care is more than just an error. A physician can rely on judgement. An error based on his judgement does not automatically reach the threshold of malpractice.

You are correct that most claims involve a minority of the physicians. Raw numbers show that roughly 80% of all claims are produced by 17% of the physicians. Most of these claims have their genesis from some sort of communication issue: reading a script or order incorrectly. The error must produce damages to generate indemnity. A bad result does not equal malpractice. Human error can not be eradicated. Weeding out the repeat offenders will reduce the volume of viable cases.
J.O'Hare VP-Claims

I have handled 50,000 claims in my career (30 years) and while my comments seem to be anecdotal in nature they are supported by analysis. Errors occur every day in medicine the vast majority do not rise to a level requiring a lawsuit. In fact under a system of medical courts or arbitration patients would benefit far greater.
They would receive compensation sooner, retaining the lion's share and perhaps the greatest benefit retain their physician and receive compensation more often then the poor 25% they currently do.

Analysis of the 50,000 claims demonstrates the vast majority of claims are not the responsibility of a handful of physicians. In the past several decades the focus of lawsuits have changed and in the past a small percent of doctors were responsible for a large portion of claims.

Today the vast majority of claims are based on injury hence the attack on obstetrics. No one can make an argument 30% of the losses paid are the result of malpractice occurring in one of 50 specialties. You just don't see brain damage, Erb's Palsy, cancer of the cervix, breast and uterus in other specialties. Attorneys "mine" for these cases knowing full well the impact they will have on a jury and the ease in obtaining an expert. The reality is obstetricians commit the least a amount of malpractice. Due to fear of a verdict in excess of the policy carriers are forced to settle otherwise defensible cases.

There is no question cases of hypoxia and anoxia cause severe damage to both the child and the family and life care can and does cost several millions of dollars. There is a better way to insure all of the children who suffer these types of injuries receive the life time care they require. It is unfair some do not, simply because they did not bring a lawsuit or their attorney did a poor job of advancing their claim. These are not cases of malpractice simply precipitous deliveries. "Monday morning quarterbacking" is easy with these deliveries and place enough doubt into a jury carriers must pay. They then pass the cost along which we all pay for!

Some other facts, the vast majority of the claims I handed were first notice suits, this means no prior notice. While hospital generate thousands of incident reports for "occurrences" rarely did they subsequently become a lawsuit.

The biggest issue I have with counselor's post is the assumption of negligence. The vast majority of obstetrical claims are settled we have no way of knowing if they were cases of negligence. To presume is disingenuous at best. Take "Bad Faith" out of the equation and let's start allowing cases to go to trial (the serious ones) not the "slam dunks!