Objetive: To establish a homogeneous database of patient legal claims; analyze these claims and the damage derived from them; and to perform a descriptive and comparative analysis of some of the most representative medical specialties. Methods: A total of 1899 Spanish civil-penal and administrative contention court sentences were studied. Results: The most claimed medical specialties were orthopedic surgery and traumatology, and gynecology and obstetrics. In both cases the condemning sentences represented about 50%. Regarding the compensation sums, the largest corresponded to anesthesia and resuscitation, followed by gynecology and obstetrics, and dentistry in last position. Conclusion: The data obtained are relevant for defining the professional civil liability insurance coverage of each of the medical specialties.