ArticleAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England2015
Litigation costs of wrong-site surgery and other non-technical errors in orthopaedic operating theatres.
Article in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- The application of human reliability analysis to carpal tunnel decompression.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2024Article
- Medical errors, affected sites, and adverse consequences among patients in the orthopaedic department: Does age matter?Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Article
- A cost-consequence analysis of eLearning videos designed to supplement the consent process in lower limb arthroplasty.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2023Article
- Patterns of malpractice claims and compensation after surgical procedures: a retrospective analysis of 8,901 claims from the Finnish patient insurance registry.Patient safety in surgery · 2023Article
- Article
- Assessing the quality of consent in elective hip and knee arthroplasty: Do modern orthopaedic surgeons make the cut?Journal of clinical orthopaedics and trauma · 2021Article
- Analysis and outcomes of wrong site thyroid surgery.BMC surgery · 2021Article
- Alleged malpractice in orthopaedics. Analysis of a series of medmal insurance claims.Journal of orthopaedics and traumatology : official journal of the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThis study reviews the litigation costs of avoidable errors in orthopaedic operating theatres (OOTs) in England and Wales from 1995 to 2010 using the National Health Service Litigation Authority Database. MATERIALS AND
methodsLitigation specifically against non-technical errors (NTEs) in OOTs and issues regarding obtaining adequate consent was identified and analysed for the year of incident, compensation fee, cost of legal defence, and likelihood of compensation.
resultsThere were 550 claims relating to consent and NTEs in OOTs. Negligence was related to consent (n=126), wrong-site surgery (104), injuries in the OOT (54), foreign body left in situ (54), diathermy and skin-preparation burns (54), operator error (40), incorrect equipment (25), medication errors (15) and tourniquet injuries (10). Mean cost per claim was £40,322. Cumulative cost for all cases was £20 million. Wrong-site surgery was error that elicited the most successful litigation (89% of cases). Litigation relating to implantation of an incorrect prosthesis (eg right-sided prosthesis in a left knee) cost £2.9 million. Prevalence of litigation against NTEs has declined since 2007.
conclusionsImproved patient-safety strategies such as the World Health Organization Surgical Checklist may be responsible for the recent reduction in prevalence of litigation for NTEs. However, addition of a specific feature in orthopaedic surgery, an 'implant time-out' could translate into a cost benefit for National Health Service hospital trusts and improve patient safety.
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