
Background and Goal of Study:Patient safety and Medical Professional Liability (MPL) are top priorities in everyday medical practice. High rates of claims for alleged malpractice in the surgical medical field have been reported and it also affects Anaesthesiology and Pain Management speciality, which is responsible for the sixth highest number of claims in Catalonia.
Materials and Methods:We analysed the claims database of the Professional Liability Department of the Catalonian Council of Physicians’ Official Colleges (PLD). We performed a descriptive analysis of the most common events leading to a claim.
Results and Discussion:From all the specialties registered in Professional Liability Department (PLD) of the Council of Medical Colleges of Catalonia database, from 2000 to 2013, 154 belonged to Anaesthesiology, which represents the 3.4% and has a claim frequency of 11 cases/per year. The MPL rate is 35.7%. The patient involved in a claim is middle aged, previously healthy with no predominant sex. The type of anaesthetic act with higher MPL is General Anaesthesia (39.5 %). Regional Anaesthesia, in particular, Epidural Anaesthesia, has a high MPL rate (39.1%). Patient information procedure is poorly documented in 51.3% of cases, which correlates positively and significantly (p=0.000) with the concurrence of MPL. According to the NPSA scale, adverse events categorised as ‘severe’ and ‘exitus’, represent 49.3 % of total claims. Most frequently claims reported are: dental injuries (27,3 %), central nervous system damage and anoxia (22,7%). Exitus (14.9 %) is mainly caused by haemorrhage and cardiac etiologies (39.4 %). Claims are filed in average one year after the adverse event occurred and require an average period of almost three years until it reaches its final resolution (2.75 years). The majority of claims were settled out of court with statistical significance.
Conclusion(s):Anaesthesiology typically involve both severe damage (fatalities and severe impairment) and minimum damage (dental damage). The analysis of closed claims makes it possible to identify areas of
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high medico-legal risk and also frequent adverse events which should lead to the development of preventive strategies.
References (optional):
1. Gómez-Duran E.L. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine 20(2013)442-446 2. Staender S.Eur JAnesthesiol 2011;28;85-91

06 / Adverse events involved in liability claims of alleged Anaesthesiology malpractice between 2000-2013 in a Spanish series.