Analysis of lawsuit cases in the Department of Surgery in Korea

Jung, Ji Yun; Kim, So Yoon; Kim, Dong Gyu; Kim, Choong Bai; Chi, Kyong-Choun; Kang, Won Kyung; Lee, Won

doi:10.4174/astr.2018.94.3.113

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This is usually expressed as a percentage of the defendant's liability. Furthermore, most lawsuits were filed against departments of surgery (40%) [16], as also shown in this study. There can be several reasons for the limitation of liability, categorized according to the following factors: patients, healthcare professionals, and the features of diseases.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…First, the details of the medical processes were not accurately assessed due to the characteristics of judgments, which described only the details required for the decision. Nevertheless, we reviewed some previous studies regarding medical malpractice and judicial precedents [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][28][29][30] and tried to set appropriate variables for quantitative analysis and structure for qualitative analysis. Second, there were only a few litigation cases related to NF, meaning a longer period was needed to retrieve cases; therefore, judgments in the past might not reflect the current clinical practice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results of this study showed that colorectal surgery was the most relevant procedure before the diagnosis of NF. Colorectal surgery is also the most frequent type of surgery in medical lawsuits relating to general surgery [ 16 ]. Additionally, the most common sites of NF have been reported to be the upper and lower extremities, trunk, and head or neck [ 23 24 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subsequently, the researchers categorized the cases into 3 groups based on medical accident, the occurrence of NF, and breach of duty. For medical accidents, we analyzed the following variables that have been used in previous studies [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]: the yearly distribution of NF cases, the period of the resolution, type of medical institution, specialized department, patient's sex and age, and the rate of loss of labor capacity as a result of damage. The decision, limitation of liability, and the amount claimed and awarded relating to the medical accident were analyzed.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Medicolegal implications from litigations involving necrotizing fasciitis

2020

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Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is one of the most severe healthcare-associated infections. Early diagnosis of NF is difficult because of nonspecific signs and symptoms in the early stage. NF often presents with risks of medicolegal disputes. This study aimed to provide baseline data on the general characteristics of medical accidents involving NF, features of NF, and typical court opinions regarding medical malpractice in Korea. Methods: In this study, 25 cases of medical malpractice litigation involving NF sentenced between 1998 and 2018 were analyzed with respect to 3 variables: medical accident, NF, and breach of duty. Results: The department of colorectal surgery was most frequently involved in litigation cases (40.0%), and colorectal surgery was the most frequent procedure before the diagnosis of NF (40.0%). The most common sites were the upper and lower extremities. The courts agreed that there was typically improper monitoring after treatment, frequently related to NF. Conclusion: These litigation cases imply that physicians cannot be blamed for the failure to prevent NF. The timely recognition and management of NF might be considered as one of the main factors for deciding malpractice in court. Therefore, surgeons, especially in the department of colorectal surgery, should pay attention to changes in the patient's status after surgery. Surgeons need to learn from medical accidents, as it is important for risk management, preventing the occurrence of similar cases, and improving the quality of healthcare services. We report the medicolegal implications from medical lawsuits involving NF.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Medicolegal implications from litigations involving necrotizing fasciitis

2020

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“…This distinction may be due to the nature of our data, that is, lawsuit judgements versus claims. In addition, the average claim and awarded amounts in our study (average amount of claims: $359 915; average amount awarded in judgements: $170 842) were higher than those reported in lawsuit cases of orthopedic, general surgery, and coronary interventions in Korea 17–19…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 66%

Analysis of judicial precedent cases regarding epidural injection in chronic pain management in Republic of Korea

Cho

Shin

Jung

et al. 2020

Reg Anesth Pain Med

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BackgroundAlthough there is a low incidence of complications associated with epidural injections, pain physicians should still remain vigilant for potentially serious adverse outcomes. This study aimed to identify and describe the major complications of epidural injections.MethodsThis retrospective, observational, medicolegal study analyzed closed cases of precedents involving complications of epidural injections from January 1997 to August 2019 using the database of the Supreme Court of Korea’s judgement system. Clinical characteristics and judgement statuses were analyzed.ResultsOf the 73 potential cases assessed for eligibility, a total of 49 malpractice cases were included in the final analysis. Thirty-three claims resulted in payments to the plaintiffs, with a median payment of US$103 828 (IQR: US$45 291–US$265 341). The most common complication was infection (n=13, 26.5%), followed by worsening pain (n=8, 16.3%). Physician malpractice before, during, and after the procedure was claimed by plaintiffs in 18 (36.7%), 44 (89.8%), and 31 (63.3%) cases, respectively. Of these cases, 6 (33.3%), 19 (43.2%), and 15 (48.4%), respectively, were adjudicated in favor of the plaintiffs by the courts. In cases involving postprocedural physician errors, the majority (13/15) of the plaintiff verdicts were related to delayed management. Violation of the physician’s duty of informed consent was claimed by plaintiffs in 31 (63.3%) cases, and 14 (45.2%) of these cases were judged medical malpractice.ConclusionsOur data will allow pain physicians to become acquainted with the major epidural injection-associated complications that underlie malpractice cases.

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Variation between hospitals and reviewers in detection of adverse events identified through medical record review in Korea

Kim

Shin

et al. 2020

International Journal for Quality in Health Care

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Objectives This study utilized the method of medical record review to determine characteristics of adverse events that occurred in the inpatient units of hospitals in Korea as well as the variations in adverse events between institutions. Design A two-stage retrospective medical record review was conducted. The first stage was a nurse review, where two nurses reviewed medical records of discharged patients to determine if screening criteria had been met. In the second stage, two physicians independently reviewed medical records of patients identified in the first stage, to determine whether an adverse event had occurred. Setting Inpatient units of six hospitals. Participants Medical records of 2,596 patients randomly selected were reviewed in the first stage review. Intervention(s) N/A. Main Outcome Measure(s) Adverse events. Results A total of 277 patients (10.7%) were confirmed to have had one or more adverse event(s), and a total of 336 adverse events were identified. Physician reviewers agreed about whether an adverse event had occurred for 141 patients (5.4%). The incidence rate of adverse events was at least 1.3% and a maximum of 19.4% for each hospital. Most preventability scores were less than four points (non-preventable), and there were large variations between reviewers and institutions. Conclusions Given the level of variation in the identified adverse events, further studies that include more medical institutions in their investigations are needed, and a third-party committee should be involved to address the reliability issues regarding the occurrence and characteristics of the adverse events.

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Analysis of lawsuit cases in the Department of Surgery in Korea

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

Medicolegal implications from litigations involving necrotizing fasciitis

Medicolegal implications from litigations involving necrotizing fasciitis

Analysis of judicial precedent cases regarding epidural injection in chronic pain management in Republic of Korea

Variation between hospitals and reviewers in detection of adverse events identified through medical record review in Korea

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