MEDICAL LIABILITY BETWEEN CLINICAL PRACTICE AND LITIGATION: A BIBLIOMETRIC THEMATIC ANALYSIS
R. Dumitrescu
Abstract: Medical malpractice is a topic of constant interest in the literature, situated at the intersection of clinical practice, legal liability and professional ethics. Despite the abundance of descriptive and legal studies, few works systematically investigate the dominant themes and thematic gaps in scientific research in this area. The aim of this study was to identify, through a bibliometric analysis, the main thematic directions and under-explored areas in the recent literature on medical malpractice, with a focus on the role of the physician, the social dimension and the legal pressure associated with clinical practice.
A bibliometric technique was used, based on extracting and analyzing data from the PubMed database using the keyword „medical malpractice”. Articles published in English between 2014-2025 were included, with full title, abstract and keywords. The final set of articles was analyzed using the VOSviewer software, generating two network maps: a general (title-based) and a detailed (title, abstract and keyword-based, with a co-occurrence threshold ≥5).
The analysis identified several thematic clusters, highlighting three dominant strands: professional standards and medical practice, litigation and clinical errors, risk assessment and evidence-based medicine. Terms such as „physician”, „malpractice claim”, „burnout” and „evidence” were the most central in the semantic networks. In addition, the maps revealed a number of thematic gaps, including under-representation of the patient perspective, institutional accountability and the educational dimension.
Medical malpractice is predominantly approached from a legal-professional perspective, with a strong emphasis on the individual responsibility of the doctor. The social dimension, although suggested by terms such as burnout or impairment, remains incompletely explored. The study highlights the need to broaden the research towards systemic, participatory and comparative approaches, including the voice of the patient, organizational aspects and the social impact of medical litigation. Keywords: medical malpractice, bibliometric analysis, VOSviewer, physician responsibility, patient safety, litigation in healthcare, burnout in medicine, healthcare risk, co-occurrence mapping.
 and a detailed (title, abstract and keyword-based, with a co-occurrence threshold ≥5).
<br /> The analysis identified several thematic clusters, highlighting three dominant strands: professional standards and medical practice, litigation and clinical errors, risk assessment and evidence-based medicine. Terms such as „physician”, „malpractice claim”, „burnout” and „evidence” were the most central in the semantic networks. In addition, the maps revealed a number of thematic gaps, including under-representation of the patient perspective, institutional accountability and the educational dimension.
<br /> Medical malpractice is predominantly approached from a legal-professional perspective, with a strong emphasis on the individual responsibility of the doctor. The social dimension, although suggested by terms such as burnout or impairment, remains incompletely explored. The study highlights the need to broaden the research towards systemic, participatory and comparative approaches, including the voice of the patient, organizational aspects and the social impact of medical litigation.&redirect_uri=http://rjlm.ro/index.php/arhiv/1054)