When informed consent goes poorly: a descriptive study of medical negligence claims and patient complaints

Gogos, Andrew; Clark, Richard B.; Bismark, Marie; Gruen, Russell L.; Studdert, David M.

doi:10.5694/mja11.10379

Cited by 66 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Details of how the informed consent complaints were identified and reviewed are described elsewhere 22. In summary, the Commission received 9115 complaints over the study period, 1898 (21%) of which proceeded to conciliation.…”

Section: A Case Study From Victoriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Remedies sought and obtained in healthcare complaints

et al. 2011

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In the wake of adverse events, injured patients and their families have a complex range of needs and wants. The tort system, even when operating at its best, will inevitably fall far short of addressing them. In Australia and New Zealand, government-run health complaints commissions take a more flexible and expansive approach to providing remedies for patients injured by or disgruntled with care. Unfortunately, survey research has shown that many patients in these systems are dissatisfied with their experience. We hypothesised that an important explanation for this dissatisfaction is an 'expectations gap'; discordance between what complainants want and what they eventually get out of the process. Analysing a sample of complaints relating to informed consent from the Commission in Victoria (Australia's second largest state, with 5.2 million residents), we found evidence of such a gap. One-third (59/189) of complainants who sought restoration received it; 1 in 5 complainants (17/101) who sought correction received assurances that changes had been or would be made to reduce the risk of others suffering a similar harm; and fewer than 1 in 10 (3/37) who sought sanctions saw steps taken to achieve this outcome initiated. We argue that bridging the expectations gap would go far toward improving patient satisfaction with complaints systems, and suggest several ways this might be done.

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Section: A Case Study From Victoriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Remedies sought and obtained in healthcare complaints

et al. 2011

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“…(The HSC data related to all complaints against doctors, regardless of who insured them.) We have previously described our method for screening claims and complaints in this sample frame to determine which ones met the definition of an informed consent dispute [11]. We recap definitions of key terms in Box 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The disputes were drawn systematically from litigation and conciliation files resolved over a seven-year period. In a recent report [11] we described general characteristics of this sample. In this analysis, we describe a subset that involved explicit disagreements between patients and doctors about whether a particular risk ought to have been disclosed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legal Disputes over Duties to Disclose Treatment Risks to Patients: A Review of Negligence Claims and Complaints in Australia

et al. 2012

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“…Studies have shown that informed consent has become the minimal floor for communicating risks and benefits, confusing a much-needed process for patient engagement with the completion of a document. 40,41 Many patients do not read this document or understand that alternatives or no treatment are viable options. 15,42,43 Furthermore, SDM should not be implemented as a printout or an electronic checklist to document that a decision aid was given to the patient.…”

Section: How Should We Promote Sdm?mentioning

confidence: 99%