Trauma surgery malpractice risk: perception versus reality
We set out to compare the malpractice lawsuit risk and incidence in trauma surgery, emergency surgery, and elective surgery at a single academic medical center. The perceived increased malpractice risk attributed to trauma patients discourages participation in trauma call panels and may influence ca...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | Annals of surgery 2005-06, Vol.241 (6), p.969-977 |
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| container_title | Annals of surgery |
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| creator | Stewart, Ronald M Johnston, Joe Geoghegan, Kathy Anthony, Tiffany Myers, John G Dent, Daniel L Corneille, Michael G Danielson, Daren S Root, H David Pruitt, Jr, Basil A Cohn, Stephen M |
| description | We set out to compare the malpractice lawsuit risk and incidence in trauma surgery, emergency surgery, and elective surgery at a single academic medical center.
The perceived increased malpractice risk attributed to trauma patients discourages participation in trauma call panels and may influence career choice of surgeons. When questioned, surgeons cite malpractice risk as a rationale for not providing trauma care. Little data substantiate or refute the perceived high trauma malpractice risk. We hypothesized that the malpractice risk was equivalent between an elective surgical practice and a trauma/emergency practice.
Three prospectively maintained institutional databases were used to calculate and characterize malpractice incidence and risk: a surgical operation database, a trauma registry, and a risk management/malpractice database. Risk groups were divided into elective general surgery (ELECTIVE), urgent/emergent, nontrauma general surgery (URGENT), and trauma surgery (TRAUMA). Malpractice claims incidence was calculated by dividing the total number of filed lawsuits by the total number of operative procedures over a 12-year period.
Over the study period, 62,350 operations were performed. A total of 21 lawsuits were served. Seven were dismissed. Three were granted summary judgments to the defendants. Ten were settled with payments to the plaintiffs. One went to trial and resulted in a jury verdict in favor of the defendants. Total paid liability was 4.7 million dollars(391,667 dollars/year). Total legal defense costs were 1.3 million dollars(108,333 dollars/year). The ratio of lawsuits filed/operations performed and incidence in the 3 groups is as follows: ELECTIVE 14/39,080 (3.0 lawsuits/100,000 procedures/year), URGENT 5/17,958, (2.3 lawsuits/100,000 procedures/year), and TRAUMA 2/5312 (3.1/100,000 procedures/year). During the study period, there were an estimated 49,435 trauma patients evaluated. The incidence of malpractice lawsuits using this denominator is 0.34 lawsuits/100,000 patients/year.
These data demonstrate no increased risk of lawsuit when caring for trauma patients, and the actual risk of a malpractice lawsuit was low. |
| doi_str_mv | 10.1097/01.sla.0000164179.48276.45 |
| format | Article |
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The perceived increased malpractice risk attributed to trauma patients discourages participation in trauma call panels and may influence career choice of surgeons. When questioned, surgeons cite malpractice risk as a rationale for not providing trauma care. Little data substantiate or refute the perceived high trauma malpractice risk. We hypothesized that the malpractice risk was equivalent between an elective surgical practice and a trauma/emergency practice.
Three prospectively maintained institutional databases were used to calculate and characterize malpractice incidence and risk: a surgical operation database, a trauma registry, and a risk management/malpractice database. Risk groups were divided into elective general surgery (ELECTIVE), urgent/emergent, nontrauma general surgery (URGENT), and trauma surgery (TRAUMA). Malpractice claims incidence was calculated by dividing the total number of filed lawsuits by the total number of operative procedures over a 12-year period.
Over the study period, 62,350 operations were performed. A total of 21 lawsuits were served. Seven were dismissed. Three were granted summary judgments to the defendants. Ten were settled with payments to the plaintiffs. One went to trial and resulted in a jury verdict in favor of the defendants. Total paid liability was 4.7 million dollars(391,667 dollars/year). Total legal defense costs were 1.3 million dollars(108,333 dollars/year). The ratio of lawsuits filed/operations performed and incidence in the 3 groups is as follows: ELECTIVE 14/39,080 (3.0 lawsuits/100,000 procedures/year), URGENT 5/17,958, (2.3 lawsuits/100,000 procedures/year), and TRAUMA 2/5312 (3.1/100,000 procedures/year). During the study period, there were an estimated 49,435 trauma patients evaluated. The incidence of malpractice lawsuits using this denominator is 0.34 lawsuits/100,000 patients/year.
These data demonstrate no increased risk of lawsuit when caring for trauma patients, and the actual risk of a malpractice lawsuit was low.</description><identifier>ISSN: 0003-4932</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1528-1140</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1097/01.sla.0000164179.48276.45</identifier><identifier>PMID: 15912046</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>United States</publisher><subject>Databases, Factual ; General Surgery - economics ; General Surgery - legislation & jurisprudence ; General Surgery - statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Liability, Legal - economics ; Malpractice - statistics & numerical data ; Original ; Risk Assessment ; Texas ; Traumatology - economics ; Traumatology - legislation & jurisprudence ; Traumatology - statistics & numerical data</subject><ispartof>Annals of surgery, 2005-06, Vol.241 (6), p.969-977</ispartof><rights>2005 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><oa>free_for_read</oa><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c315t-4e25360819df8ba3bab29cbb9fdf00cbe51245f1f463f2c1e78aa9e9bb8e27033</cites></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><linktopdf>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1357176/pdf/$$EPDF$$P50$$Gpubmedcentral$$H</linktopdf><linktohtml>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1357176/$$EHTML$$P50$$Gpubmedcentral$$H</linktohtml><link.rule.ids>230,314,723,776,780,881,27901,27902,53766,53768</link.rule.ids><backlink>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15912046$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed$$Hfree_for_read</backlink></links><search><creatorcontrib>Stewart, Ronald M</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Johnston, Joe</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Geoghegan, Kathy</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Anthony, Tiffany</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Myers, John G</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Dent, Daniel L</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Corneille, Michael G</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Danielson, Daren S</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Root, H David</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Pruitt, Jr, Basil A</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Cohn, Stephen M</creatorcontrib><title>Trauma surgery malpractice risk: perception versus reality</title><title>Annals of surgery</title><addtitle>Ann Surg</addtitle><description>We set out to compare the malpractice lawsuit risk and incidence in trauma surgery, emergency surgery, and elective surgery at a single academic medical center.
The perceived increased malpractice risk attributed to trauma patients discourages participation in trauma call panels and may influence career choice of surgeons. When questioned, surgeons cite malpractice risk as a rationale for not providing trauma care. Little data substantiate or refute the perceived high trauma malpractice risk. We hypothesized that the malpractice risk was equivalent between an elective surgical practice and a trauma/emergency practice.
Three prospectively maintained institutional databases were used to calculate and characterize malpractice incidence and risk: a surgical operation database, a trauma registry, and a risk management/malpractice database. Risk groups were divided into elective general surgery (ELECTIVE), urgent/emergent, nontrauma general surgery (URGENT), and trauma surgery (TRAUMA). Malpractice claims incidence was calculated by dividing the total number of filed lawsuits by the total number of operative procedures over a 12-year period.
Over the study period, 62,350 operations were performed. A total of 21 lawsuits were served. Seven were dismissed. Three were granted summary judgments to the defendants. Ten were settled with payments to the plaintiffs. One went to trial and resulted in a jury verdict in favor of the defendants. Total paid liability was 4.7 million dollars(391,667 dollars/year). Total legal defense costs were 1.3 million dollars(108,333 dollars/year). The ratio of lawsuits filed/operations performed and incidence in the 3 groups is as follows: ELECTIVE 14/39,080 (3.0 lawsuits/100,000 procedures/year), URGENT 5/17,958, (2.3 lawsuits/100,000 procedures/year), and TRAUMA 2/5312 (3.1/100,000 procedures/year). During the study period, there were an estimated 49,435 trauma patients evaluated. The incidence of malpractice lawsuits using this denominator is 0.34 lawsuits/100,000 patients/year.
These data demonstrate no increased risk of lawsuit when caring for trauma patients, and the actual risk of a malpractice lawsuit was low.</description><subject>Databases, Factual</subject><subject>General Surgery - economics</subject><subject>General Surgery - legislation & jurisprudence</subject><subject>General Surgery - statistics & numerical data</subject><subject>Humans</subject><subject>Liability, Legal - economics</subject><subject>Malpractice - statistics & numerical data</subject><subject>Original</subject><subject>Risk Assessment</subject><subject>Texas</subject><subject>Traumatology - economics</subject><subject>Traumatology - legislation & jurisprudence</subject><subject>Traumatology - statistics & numerical data</subject><issn>0003-4932</issn><issn>1528-1140</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2005</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><sourceid>EIF</sourceid><recordid>eNpVkMlOwzAQhi0EomV5BRRx4Jbg8RLHPSChik1C4gJny3YnJZA0wU4q9e0JtGKZyxzmm39GHyHnQDOgWl1SyGJtMzoW5AKUzkTBVJ4JuUemIFmRAgi6T6YjwFOhOZuQoxjfRlwUVB2SCUgNjIp8SmbPwQ6NTeIQlhg2SWPrLljfVx6TUMX3WdJh8Nj1VbtK1hjiEJOAtq76zQk5KG0d8XTXj8nL7c3z_D59fLp7mF8_pp6D7FOBTPKcFqAXZeEsd9Yx7Z3T5aKk1DuUwIQsoRQ5L5kHVIW1GrVzBTJFOT8mV9vcbnANLjyu-mBr04WqsWFjWluZ_5NV9WqW7doAlwpUPgZc7AJC-zFg7E1TRY91bVfYDtHkqpCjyS9wtgV9aGMMWP4cAWq-1BsKZlRvftWbb_VGyHH57O-bv6s71_wT3e-C6Q</recordid><startdate>200506</startdate><enddate>200506</enddate><creator>Stewart, Ronald M</creator><creator>Johnston, Joe</creator><creator>Geoghegan, Kathy</creator><creator>Anthony, Tiffany</creator><creator>Myers, John G</creator><creator>Dent, Daniel L</creator><creator>Corneille, Michael G</creator><creator>Danielson, Daren S</creator><creator>Root, H David</creator><creator>Pruitt, Jr, Basil A</creator><creator>Cohn, Stephen M</creator><scope>CGR</scope><scope>CUY</scope><scope>CVF</scope><scope>ECM</scope><scope>EIF</scope><scope>NPM</scope><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>7X8</scope><scope>5PM</scope></search><sort><creationdate>200506</creationdate><title>Trauma surgery malpractice risk: perception versus reality</title><author>Stewart, Ronald M ; Johnston, Joe ; Geoghegan, Kathy ; Anthony, Tiffany ; Myers, John G ; Dent, Daniel L ; Corneille, Michael G ; Danielson, Daren S ; Root, H David ; Pruitt, Jr, Basil A ; Cohn, Stephen M</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c315t-4e25360819df8ba3bab29cbb9fdf00cbe51245f1f463f2c1e78aa9e9bb8e27033</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2005</creationdate><topic>Databases, Factual</topic><topic>General Surgery - economics</topic><topic>General Surgery - legislation & jurisprudence</topic><topic>General Surgery - statistics & numerical data</topic><topic>Humans</topic><topic>Liability, Legal - economics</topic><topic>Malpractice - statistics & numerical data</topic><topic>Original</topic><topic>Risk Assessment</topic><topic>Texas</topic><topic>Traumatology - economics</topic><topic>Traumatology - legislation & jurisprudence</topic><topic>Traumatology - statistics & numerical data</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>Stewart, Ronald M</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Johnston, Joe</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Geoghegan, Kathy</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Anthony, Tiffany</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Myers, John G</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Dent, Daniel L</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Corneille, Michael G</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Danielson, Daren S</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Root, H David</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Pruitt, Jr, Basil A</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Cohn, Stephen M</creatorcontrib><collection>Medline</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>MEDLINE (Ovid)</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>PubMed</collection><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>MEDLINE - Academic</collection><collection>PubMed Central (Full Participant titles)</collection><jtitle>Annals of surgery</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Stewart, Ronald M</au><au>Johnston, Joe</au><au>Geoghegan, Kathy</au><au>Anthony, Tiffany</au><au>Myers, John G</au><au>Dent, Daniel L</au><au>Corneille, Michael G</au><au>Danielson, Daren S</au><au>Root, H David</au><au>Pruitt, Jr, Basil A</au><au>Cohn, Stephen M</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Trauma surgery malpractice risk: perception versus reality</atitle><jtitle>Annals of surgery</jtitle><addtitle>Ann Surg</addtitle><date>2005-06</date><risdate>2005</risdate><volume>241</volume><issue>6</issue><spage>969</spage><epage>977</epage><pages>969-977</pages><issn>0003-4932</issn><eissn>1528-1140</eissn><abstract>We set out to compare the malpractice lawsuit risk and incidence in trauma surgery, emergency surgery, and elective surgery at a single academic medical center.
The perceived increased malpractice risk attributed to trauma patients discourages participation in trauma call panels and may influence career choice of surgeons. When questioned, surgeons cite malpractice risk as a rationale for not providing trauma care. Little data substantiate or refute the perceived high trauma malpractice risk. We hypothesized that the malpractice risk was equivalent between an elective surgical practice and a trauma/emergency practice.
Three prospectively maintained institutional databases were used to calculate and characterize malpractice incidence and risk: a surgical operation database, a trauma registry, and a risk management/malpractice database. Risk groups were divided into elective general surgery (ELECTIVE), urgent/emergent, nontrauma general surgery (URGENT), and trauma surgery (TRAUMA). Malpractice claims incidence was calculated by dividing the total number of filed lawsuits by the total number of operative procedures over a 12-year period.
Over the study period, 62,350 operations were performed. A total of 21 lawsuits were served. Seven were dismissed. Three were granted summary judgments to the defendants. Ten were settled with payments to the plaintiffs. One went to trial and resulted in a jury verdict in favor of the defendants. Total paid liability was 4.7 million dollars(391,667 dollars/year). Total legal defense costs were 1.3 million dollars(108,333 dollars/year). The ratio of lawsuits filed/operations performed and incidence in the 3 groups is as follows: ELECTIVE 14/39,080 (3.0 lawsuits/100,000 procedures/year), URGENT 5/17,958, (2.3 lawsuits/100,000 procedures/year), and TRAUMA 2/5312 (3.1/100,000 procedures/year). During the study period, there were an estimated 49,435 trauma patients evaluated. The incidence of malpractice lawsuits using this denominator is 0.34 lawsuits/100,000 patients/year.
These data demonstrate no increased risk of lawsuit when caring for trauma patients, and the actual risk of a malpractice lawsuit was low.</abstract><cop>United States</cop><pmid>15912046</pmid><doi>10.1097/01.sla.0000164179.48276.45</doi><tpages>9</tpages><oa>free_for_read</oa></addata></record> |
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| subjects | Databases, Factual General Surgery - economics General Surgery - legislation & jurisprudence General Surgery - statistics & numerical data Humans Liability, Legal - economics Malpractice - statistics & numerical data Original Risk Assessment Texas Traumatology - economics Traumatology - legislation & jurisprudence Traumatology - statistics & numerical data |
| title | Trauma surgery malpractice risk: perception versus reality |
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