Dataset Information

Do Plastic Surgery Residents Get Sued? An Analysis of Malpractice Lawsuits.

ABSTRACT: Trainees may be implicated in malpractice lawsuits. Our study examines malpractice cases involving plastic surgery trainees.

Methods

Using the LexisNexis database, verdicts and settlements from appellate state and federal cases between February 1988 and 2020 were queried. A nonrepresentative sample of 300 cases was compiled.

Results

During a 32-year period, 21 lawsuits involving plastic surgery trainees were identified. Of these, 14 (66.67%) involved claims when a trainee was directly named as a defendant. Eighteen (85.7%) cases were due to procedural-related adverse outcomes, while three (14.3%) cases were associated with clinical or diagnostic-related adverse outcomes. Of the procedure-related cases, five (27.8%) occurred when the trainee was the lead surgeon. Allegations included lack of informed consent of procedure complications (11, 52.4%), procedural error (11, 52.4%), failure to supervise trainee (11, 52.4%), inexperience of trainee (eight, 38.1%), incorrect diagnosis or treatment (five, 23.8%), delay in evaluation (three, 14.3%), lack of awareness of resident involvement (three, 14.3%), lack of follow-up (three, 14.3%), and prolonged operative time (one, 4.8%). Median time from injury to lawsuit resolution was 3.8 years [interquartile range (IQR), 3-5 years]. Verdicts were ruled in favor of the defense in eight (38.1%) cases and for plaintiff in six (28.6%) cases. A settlement was made in seven (33.3%) cases. Median payout for plaintiff-won cases was $5,100,000 (IQR, $1,530,000-$17,500,000); the median settlement was $2,500,000 (IQR, $262,500-$4,410,000).

Conclusions

Procedural error, improper informed consent, improper trainee supervision, and resident inexperience were the most common allegations. These factors can lead to financial and psychological burdens early in a physician's career.

SUBMITTER: Gibstein AR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9839246 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Do Plastic Surgery Residents Get Sued? An Analysis of Malpractice Lawsuits.

Gibstein Alexander R AR Jabori Sinan K SK Watane Arjun A Slavin Benjamin R BR Elabd Rawan R Singh Devinder D

Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open 20230113 1

Trainees may be implicated in malpractice lawsuits. Our study examines malpractice cases involving plastic surgery trainees.<h4>Methods</h4>Using the LexisNexis database, verdicts and settlements from appellate state and federal cases between February 1988 and 2020 were queried. A nonrepresentative sample of 300 cases was compiled.<h4>Results</h4>During a 32-year period, 21 lawsuits involving plastic surgery trainees were identified. Of these, 14 (66.67%) involved claims when a trainee was direc ...[more]

PMID: 36655026

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Project description:ImportanceMedical malpractice litigation against surgical residents is rarely discussed owing to assumed legal doctrine of respondeat superior, or "let the master answer."ObjectiveTo better understand lawsuits targeting surgical trainees to prevent future litigation.Design, setting, and participantsWestlaw, an online legal research database containing legal records from across the United States, was retrospectively reviewed for malpractice cases involving surgical interns, residents, or fellows from January 1, 2005, to January 1, 2015. Infant-related obstetric and ophthalmologic procedures were excluded.ExposuresInvolvement in a medical malpractice case.Main outcomes and measuresData were collected on patient demographics, case characteristics, and outcomes and were analyzed using descriptive statistics.ResultsDuring a 10-year period, 87 malpractice cases involving surgical trainees were identified. A total of 50 patients were female (57%), and 79 were 18 years of age or older (91%), with a median patient age of 44.5 years (interquartile range, 45-56 years). A total of 67 cases (77%) resulted in death or permanent disability. Most cases involved elective surgery (61 [70%]) and named a junior resident as a defendant (24 of 35 [69%]). Cases more often questioned the perioperative medical knowledge, decision making errors, and injuries (53 [61%]: preoperative, 19 of 53 [36%]) and postoperative, 34 of 53 [64%]) than intraoperative errors and injuries (43 [49%]). Junior residents were involved primarily with lawsuits related to medical decision making (21 of 24 [87%]). Residents' failure to evaluate the patient was cited in 10 cases (12%) and lack of direct supervision by attending physicians was cited in 48 cases (55%). A total of 42 cases (48%) resulted in a jury verdict or settlement in favor of the plaintiff, with a median payout of $900 000 (range, $1852 to $32 million).Conclusions and relevanceThis review of malpractice cases involving surgical residents highlights the importance of perioperative management, particularly among junior residents, and the importance of appropriate supervision by attending physicians as targets for education on litigation prevention.

Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has upended graduate medical education globally. We investigated the COVID-19 impact on learning inputs and expected learning outputs of plastic surgery residents across the world.MethodsWe administered an online survey capturing training inputs before and during the pandemic and retrieved residents' expected learning outputs compared with residents who completed their training before COVID. The questionnaire reached residents across the world through the mobilization of national and international societies of plastic surgeons.ResultsThe analysis included 412 plastic surgery residents from 47 countries. The results revealed a 44% decline (ranging from - 79 to 10% across countries) and an 18% decline (ranging from - 76 to across 151% countries) in surgeries and seminars, respectively, per week. Moreover, 74% (ranging from 0 to 100% across countries) and 43% (ranging from 0 to 100% across countries) of residents expected a negative COVID-19 impact on their surgical skill and scientific knowledge, respectively. We found strong correlations only between corresponding input and output: surgeries scrubbed in with surgical skill (ρ = -0.511 with p < 0.001) and seminars attended with scientific knowledge (ρ = - 0.274 with p = 0.006).ConclusionsOur ranking of countries based on their COVID-19 impacts provides benchmarks for national strategies of learning recovery. Remedial measures that target surgical skill may be more needed than those targeting scientific knowledge. Our finding of limited substitutability of inputs in training suggests that it may be challenging to make up for lost operating room time with more seminars. Our results support the need for flexible training models and competency-based advancement.Level of evidence vThis journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors http://www.springer.com/00266 .

Dataset Information

Do Plastic Surgery Residents Get Sued? An Analysis of Malpractice Lawsuits.

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Do Plastic Surgery Residents Get Sued? An Analysis of Malpractice Lawsuits.

Similar Datasets

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