A bad doctor bedeviled by malpractice claims closes up shop in the dead of night and slips away to another state, hoping to leave his soiled reputation behind.

That’s a common scenario many imagine. But the reality is almost as scary, a new study finds.

More than 9 out of 10 doctors who’ve racked up five or more successful malpractice claims against them continue to see patients as usual, and they’re in no particular rush to set up shop far away, said lead researcher David Studdert, a professor of medicine and law at Stanford Law School.

“We find that, contrary to popular wisdom, they’re no more likely than other physicians to pick up and relocate for a fresh start somewhere else,” Studdert said.

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That would be “somewhat reassuring from a patient safety standpoint,” Studdert said, except that “the fact is most of these ‘frequent flyers’ continue to practice, and I wouldn’t want to be one of their patients.”

Studdert and his colleagues examined malpractice trends by linking a federal database that tracks successful malpractice claims with a national Medicare database of physicians, which tracks where the doctors are practicing in any given year.

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“We find that about 2 percent of practicing physicians account for about 40 percent of malpractice claims,” Studdert said.

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“Physicians with multiple claims are more likely to switch into small practice groups or solo practice, and that professional isolation could increase the risk they pose to patients,” Studdert said. “In a hospital setting or a larger practice, there’s more oversight on what you’re doing. There’s also more opportunity to seek advice and get help from colleagues.”

Doctors are likely able to maintain successful practices despite racking up a lot of malpractice claims because many states provide little to no access to information regarding claims against physicians, Studdert said.

“The available evidence suggests that referring physicians aren’t paying much attention to that information, nor are patients,” Studdert said.

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