UAB Synopsis, Vol. 27, No. 17, May 5, 2008
A UAB Trauma Center research team has refuted the perception that trauma care is a higher medicolegal risk than other surgical and medical specialties. As reported in the The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care (2008;64[3]:607-613), the group looked at all potentially compensable medical events and actual lawsuits that occurred between 2003 and 2006 at one academic medical institution.
For each of the 13 services studied, the number of events per capita and length of stay was calculated. Among the medical and surgical specialties considered, there were 194 total events, 183,392 patients seen, and 757,880 days of hospitalization. “The trauma service had the fewest events and lawsuits per 10,000 patient-days and ranked 10th on a per capita basis, 11th for lawsuits, and 9th in total estimated cost,” senior author and Trauma Center Director Loring W. Rue III, MD, says.
“Medical malpractice plays an important role in physicians’ decisions to pursue or remain in certain presumed high-risk specialties such as trauma surgery, despite little evidence suggesting an elevated malpractice risk,” Dr. Rue says. “Although our results have some limitations, they refute the perception that trauma care carries a higher medicolegal risk. This mistaken observation should not be cited as a disincentive for surgeons to provide trauma care.”
Coauthors are lead author Gerald McGwin Jr, MS, PhD; S. LeeAnn Wilson, BS; Jeannine C. Bailes, CIC, ARM; and Patricia Pritchett, BSN, JD.