ArticleJournal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology2026
Medico-legal cases involving gastroenterologists in Canada between 2017 and 2021.
Article in Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Gastroenterology may be a medical specialty with higher-than-average medico-legal risk. We evaluated the characteristics of medico-legal proceedings relating to the delivery of gastroenterology medical care in Canada during a five-year time period. Methods: We used a repository of Canadian medico-legal cases to identify cases between 2017 and 2021 involving a gastroenterologist. We analyzed patient, provider, team, and system contributing factors using a previously published Contributing Factors Framework and patient harm using a previously published coding system. Results: We identified 223 cases involving 229 gastroenterologists with no preponderance by years of experience. Gastroenterologists had a higher rate of civil legal actions than the average for all other physician specialties in the database. 59% involved patients older than 50 years of age, 10% with digestive tract malignancies, and 10% with IBD. 51% of involved patients had a healthcare-related harm that had a negative effect on their health or quality of life. 35% had avoidable harm. Patients most commonly reported a perception of deficient assessment (35%), communication breakdowns (27%), unprofessional manner (25%), diagnostic error (22%), and inadequate monitoring or follow-up (20%). 50% of cases were criticized by peer experts, of which they deemed 45% involved communication breakdown with patients, 38% involved clinical decision-making, 30% situational awareness, 25% documentation, and 15% communication among providers. Conclusions: Communication issues remain a major contributing factor to medico-legal cases involving gastroenterologists. Integrated risk-reduction strategies may include enhancing diagnostic rigor through improved clinical protocols and decision support tools and strengthening communication at all levels of care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.