Journal
JOURNAL OF HAND SURGERY-EUROPEAN VOLUME
Volume 35E, Issue 1, Pages 61-64Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/1753193409347422
Keywords
litigation; hand surgery; NHSLA; claims
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Claims for negligence are increasing in medical practice. We analysed data provided by the UK NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) on all hand and wrist surgery from 1995-2001. The numbers of claims increased from 13 to 40, but the number being successfully defended also increased from 2 to 13 during this period. Claims were most commonly attributed to errors at surgery (56%) or in outpatient clinics (24%). Strikingly the claims are clustered to a few common conditions, particularly the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome (22%) and wrist fractures (48%). There were no claims related to complex hand surgery. We recommend better training for 'routine surgery', better description of distal radius fracture parameters at each clinic visit and better training in emergency departments (ED).
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available