Frequency of medical malpractice claims: The effects of volumes and specialties

Buzzacchi, Luigi; Scellato, Giuseppe; Ughetto, Elisa

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.10.021

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The count of medical malpractice lawsuits was a good proxy for measuring health care quality as discussed in previous section [22]. Accordingly, the primary variable of interest was the occurrences of medical malpractice lawsuits at the province level during a year.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

An analysis of medical malpractice lawsuits and its relationship to the growth of private hospitals

Sun¹,

Liu

Wang

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background Doctor-patient relationship has become an intense concern in public health in recent years. Medical malpractice lawsuits have presented an increasing trend over past decade. This study aims to describe distributions of medical malpractice lawsuits across different provinces and to investigate its relationship to the growth of private hospitals.Methods Data was drawn from China Judgments Online, the China Health Statistic Yearbooks and China Statistical Yearbooks between January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2016. Private hospitals expansion was measured by the number and proportion of private hospitals, the ratio of outpatient visits from private to public hospitals and the ratio of discharges from private to public hospitals. Fixed-effects negative binomial regressions were utilized to estimate the association between the growth of private hospitals and the number of medical malpractice lawsuits.Results In total, we identified a total of 18220 lawsuits relevant to medical malpractices across China between 2010 and 2016. The regression results revealed that more private hospitals, larger proportion of private hospitals and higher ratio of discharges from private to public hospitals were significantly associated with fewer medical malpractice lawsuits. An increase of 100 private hospitals in health care market was associated with a decrease in the number of medical malpractice lawsuits by 21%. The ratio of outpatient visits from private to public hospitals was not significantly associated with the number of malpractice lawsuits.Conclusions There was great disparities of incidences of medical malpractice lawsuits across different provinces. Greater expansion of private hospitals was associated with fewer medical malpractice lawsuits at province level. This negative association indicated that more private hospitals in health care market might provide more incentives for hospitals to contain the incidences of medical malpractice cases.

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Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

An analysis of medical malpractice lawsuits and its relationship to the growth of private hospitals

Sun¹,

Liu

Wang

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…malpractice claims can be affected by the physicians' individual characteristics, such as age, gender, and duration of professional experience. They represent a wide and multifaceted subject comprising the health status of doctors, health institutions, and health expenditure of states (6,17,21). more extensive studies are required to determine the physicians' risk of encountering a malpractice claim.…”

Section: Limitations Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Age and professional experience increase the risk of encountering legal malpractice claims among emergency service physicians

Temrel¹,

Gökhan²

2019

Med J Islamic World Acad Sci

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The responsibilities of emergency physicians toward patients are determined by law. emergency physicians do not have the right to refuse a patient admission to the emergency department, even if all beds are full (1,2). They provide health care services in a stressful environment while interacting with patients with different severity levels and risks (3). On the contrary, encountering malpractice claims has become a threat to the professional careers of emergency physician similar to other groups of physicians (4). According to a study conducted by the American medical Association, the risk of emergency physicians encountering a malpractice claim increases by 5% each year in their career compared with the previous year (5). malpractice allegations and avoidance behaviors are affected by many factors other than age, gender, and duration of professional experience (6). This study aimed to examine the basic character-istics of emergency physicians, such as age, gender, and duration of professional experience, which affect their risk of encountering malpractice claims. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study designThis study consisted of a survey, and the survey questions were prepared by academicians from an academic emergency medicine clinic, based on articles related to the subject. After obtaining the approval of the hospital's local ethics committee, the survey was administered to the emergency physicians who volunteered to participate in the study in an electronic environment. The results were collected in the electronic environment. The survey was conducted between may 2018 and June 2018, for a period of 2 months. ABSTRACTEncountering legal malpractice claims has become a part of the professional careers of emergency physicians. Various studies have investigated the risk of encountering a malpractice claim. However, the factors defining that risk still remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the primary causes affecting the risk of encountering malpractice claims for emergency physicians, such as their age, gender, and duration of professional experience.This study consisted of a survey conducted in an electronic environment with emergency physicians.A total of 212 emergency physicians volunteered to participate in the study. Of these, 61.8% were male, 49.1% had encountered malpractice allegations, and 40.1% had been subjected to an institutional investigation. A relationship was found between the status of being subjected to an institutional investigation and the average age, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.03). No statistically significant relationship was observed between gender and the status of being subjected to an institutional investigation (P = 0.778). The duration of professional experience in the emergency department was found to be related to the status of being subjected to an institutional investigation (P < 0.001) and a judicial investigation (P < 0.02).For emergency physicians, the increasing duration of professional experience in the emergency department and age are ...

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“…Surgeons in general are particularly vulnerable to being involved in malpractice litigation [4]. Pediatric surgeons treat an extremely vulnerable population, in which unfavorable outcome can lead to substantial long-term costs, placing them at an even higher risk for malpractice claims [1,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A detailed analysis of pediatric surgical malpractice claims in Germany: what is the probability of a pediatric surgeon to be accused or convicted?

Mahler

Gianicolo

Muensterer

2021

Langenbecks Arch Surg

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Aim of the study Pediatric surgeons treat a vulnerable population in which unfavorable outcome can lead to substantial long-term costs, placing them at risk for malpractice claims. This study aims to characterize the frequency and circumstances in which malpractice claims were successfully brought against pediatric surgeons in Germany over the last 5 years. Materials and methods Anonymous data on medical treatment errors and payments were acquired from the Federal Chamber of Physicians from 2014 through 2018 and analyzed for most frequent diagnoses and circumstances that resulted in accusation or conviction. Those claims that were successfully rebutted were compared to as controls. Lifetime risk for being involved in litigation and its outcome was calculated. Results There were 129 medical malpractice claims over the 5-year observation period. Medical error was confirmed in 56 cases (43%); the rest were successfully appealed. The risk of the prototypical German pediatric surgeon to be accused was 5.24% and to be convicted 2.27% per year in practice. The most common reasons for conviction (alone or in combination) were surgical-technical errors (23%), treatment delay (21%), insufficient workup (17%), incorrect diagnosis (17%), and incomplete consent (16%).The most frequent circumstances leading to a conviction were trauma (27%), inguinal hernia (7%), circumcision (7%), testicular torsion (7%), acute abdomen (7%), and appendicitis (5%). Conclusion Over a 40-year career, pediatric surgeons in Germany face an average calculated risk of 2.1 to be accused and 0.9 to be convicted of malpractice claims. Certain circumstances pose higher risks for litigation than others. Knowledge of these patterns may help practitioners avoid medicolegal confrontation.

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Frequency of medical malpractice claims: The effects of volumes and specialties

Cited by 21 publications

References 47 publications

An analysis of medical malpractice lawsuits and its relationship to the growth of private hospitals

An analysis of medical malpractice lawsuits and its relationship to the growth of private hospitals

Age and professional experience increase the risk of encountering legal malpractice claims among emergency service physicians

A detailed analysis of pediatric surgical malpractice claims in Germany: what is the probability of a pediatric surgeon to be accused or convicted?

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