Characteristics and outcomes of malpractice claims after tonsillectomy

Morris, Luc G.T.; Lieberman, Seth; Reitzen, Shari D.; Edelstein, David R.; Ziff, JD David J.S.; Katz, Alvin; Komisar, Arnold

doi:10.1016/j.otohns.2007.11.024

Cited by 61 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…(4) Complications are often underreported by surgeons (fear of being reprimanded or litigation) or journals (considered uninteresting). This statement is supported by the surprisingly high number of litigations resulting from tonsillectomy [22,23] which is not mirrored by an adequate amount of reports in the medical literature. (5) There is no uniformly accepted method of performing tonsillectomy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serious Complications following Tonsillectomy: How Frequent Are They Really?

Windfuhr¹

2013

ORL

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Introduction: Quality assurance in health care involves the evaluation of outcomes, cost-benefit ratios, and access to the delivery system. This literature review was undertaken to clarify the incidence of serious posttonsillectomy complications to better understand the outcome component of quality assurance. Material and Methods: A Medline review was undertaken using the key word ‘tonsillectomy' AND each of the following: ‘serious', ‘complications' and ‘review'; ‘meta-analysis', ‘Cochrane'; ‘life-threatening', ‘death' and ‘disability'. Results: 454 articles were identified with the following search items in combination with ‘tonsillectomy': ‘serious' (154), ‘complications', ‘review' (24), ‘meta-analysis' (38), ‘Cochrane' (43), ‘life-threatening' (87), ‘death' (91), ‘disability' (17). Sixty-seven articles described a complication rate and were therefore eligible for review: 22 case reports, 9 case series, 2 questionnaires and 33 studies with a more or less precise complication rate were obtainable. Most articles (n = 30) reported the rate of posttonsillectomy hemorrhage with a considerable range. Fifteen articles reported the incidence of death, which ranged from 1:7,132 to 1:170,000 and almost always resulted from excessive hemorrhage. All other complications were mentioned in case reports. Conclusion: The most common postoperative complication of tonsillectomy is bleeding. However, the incidence varies considerably across studies depending on the study design, follow-up and definition of postoperative bleeding. Other serious adverse events, such as neurological disabilities, emphysema (with or without pneumomediastinum), or vascular problems outside the neck are infrequent.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serious Complications following Tonsillectomy: How Frequent Are They Really?

Windfuhr¹

2013

ORL

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“…In the second case (case 20), physicians were charged because of failure to re-admit the patient after a second episode of bleeding and due to the lack of proper blood evaluations. Until recently, discussion of surgical malpractice has been widely based on ex cathedra statements supported by little data [7].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is an increasing recognition among physicians that, apart from the public policy debate on malpractice reform, there is a need for evidence-based analysis of malpractice claims and clinical data [7]. Unfortunately there exists no archive of clinical research or data to disclose this desired information about serious PTH, particularly in children and adolescents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serious post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage with and without lethal outcome in children and adolescents

Windfuhr¹,

Schloendorff²,

Baburi³

et al. 2008

International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

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“…One recent study which evaluated malpractice cases in New York State from a single medical liability insurance company identified 69 closed cases related to tonsillectomy between 1985 and 2007 [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%