Catastrophic Medical Malpractice Payouts in Spain

Abstract

Patient safety and professional liability are major concerns worldwide. Despite the pervasive influence of catastrophic malpractice payouts, little is known about the specific characteristics and the overall relevance and characteristics of these payouts, especially outside U.S. borders. Five hundred fifty claims led to a payout among 2,236 claims from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2010, in Catalonia (Spain). We analyzed data on patient, provider, and claim characteristics. Accordingly to our sample, Spanish catastrophic payouts (SCP) were defined as payouts over &OV0556;200,000, which was found in 32 cases (5.8%). Diagnostic errors and patient death were not as relevant as previously reported. However, it is remarkable that the literature emanating from different countries shows similar trends besides contextual differences: patients suffering minor injuries are not likely to receive a catastrophic payout, catastrophic payouts are associated with patient age less than one; SCP are most associated with anesthesiology and resuscitation, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology; and SCP were more likely to occur when a case went to trial compared to when a case was settled out of court. Studies, such as this, provide a wider picture of the medical liability worldwide reality and helps avoiding isolated discourses.

Estudio de las compensaciones económicas sobre sentencias contra obstetras y ginecólogos en España (1987-2013)

“…20,21 Recent publications even link this increase to a rise in insurance premiums covering professional liability, 22 which would be justified by the increased number of claims and an increasing trend in the number of high, catastrophic (employing a term coined by other authors) compensation claims. 9,10 This situation could worsen if health-specific projects come to fruition, 14 which may reduce compensation for medical errors relating to sick patients but differentiate those relating to healthy patients, such as mother and foetus, and others within this specialty. In addition, the highest compensation awards are correlated with injured individuals of under one year of age, 9,10 which is also the case here.…”

“…9,10 This situation could worsen if health-specific projects come to fruition, 14 which may reduce compensation for medical errors relating to sick patients but differentiate those relating to healthy patients, such as mother and foetus, and others within this specialty. In addition, the highest compensation awards are correlated with injured individuals of under one year of age, 9,10 which is also the case here.…”

“…7,9,10 Although it is doubtful whether this can be transferred to other settings, 11 when the interest is focused on studying extreme (or catastrophic, as coined by some authors) amounts of compensation, 9---13 it is customary to find this specialty in the top spot, irrespective of the country.…”

Doctors in Chinese public hospitals: demonstration of their professional identities

“…The compensation rate various across different studies in different countries. For example, few studies in the USA confirmed that 25 to 65% of malpractice claims resulted in monetary compensation [6], and a study conducted in a large region in Spain confirmed a slightly lower rate of 25% [7]. A systematic literature on malpractice claim at primary care conducted by Wallace et al (2013) found that 31.9% of the claims made between 1985 and 2008 resulted in payment in the US, the payout rate on paediatric claims in a study in France was as high as 72% [8].…”

Análisis de reclamaciones judiciales contra obstetras y ginecólogos en España. Estudio específico de la vía penal (1987-2013)

“…Este y otros trabajos 16,20 , respaldan el hecho de que la obstetricia soporta las indemnizaciones más elevadas, y por tanto aquellas que superan el 1.000.000D , lo cual también ocurre en nuestro caso. El rango en nuestra muestra se situó entre 6.000D y 1.200.000D , frente a los 200.775D y 743.310,98D del trabajo referido 19 . Estas diferencias se justifican por que el rango temporal, 25 vs. 6 años, no es comparable, tampoco el número de condenas, 25 frente a 550, ni la vía judicial estudiada.…”