West Virginia
Malpractice payment activity in 2025, ranked against the other 50 states and DC.
2025 in numbers
- Payments per 1,000 physicians
- 7.27
- 8th of 51
- Average payment
- $440,372
- 31st of 51
- 5-year trend in the rate
- -18.2%
- 35th of 51
- Payment reports
- 37
- Total paid
- $16.3M
- Patient-care physicians (2023)
- 5,087
The physician count is the denominator under every rate above: non-federal M.D.s and D.O.s in patient care, from HRSA’s Area Health Resources File (2023 is the most recent year published, carried forward to 2025).
Noneconomic damages cap
$375k noneconomic; $750k catastrophic/wrongful death.
Scored 18 of 22 on the bundled scorecard. Verify with counsel before relying on it. This is research, not legal advice.
History
Whether 2025 is part of a longer movement or a single-year blip. A hollow final point marks a year scaled from partial data.
Payment data reflects historical payouts after a written claim or judgment. It is not a measure of medical quality, and not a prediction of any individual’s risk. Colors on the map are scaled within each year, so compare states within a year and use these numbers, not the colors, to compare a state against itself over time.