Vasdeki D, Varitimidis SE, Chryssanthakis C, Stefanou N, Dailiana ZH. Medico-legal risks associated to hand and wrist trauma. World J Crit Care Med 2022; 11(1): 40-47 [PMID: 35433308 DOI: 10.5492/wjccm.v11.i1.40]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zoe H Dailiana, MD, PhD, Professor, Surgeon, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, 3 Panepistimiou Street, Biopolis, Larissa 41500, Greece. dailiana@med.uth.gr
Research Domain of This Article
Medicine, Legal
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Crit Care Med. Jan 9, 2022; 11(1): 40-47 Published online Jan 9, 2022. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v11.i1.40
Medico-legal risks associated to hand and wrist trauma
Dionysia Vasdeki, Sokratis E Varitimidis, Charalambos Chryssanthakis, Nikolaos Stefanou, Zoe H Dailiana
Dionysia Vasdeki, Nikolaos Stefanou, Zoe H Dailiana, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa 41500, Greece
Sokratis E Varitimidis, Department of Orthopaedics, University of Thessalia, Larissa 41110, Greece
Charalambos Chryssanthakis, Department of Administrative Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 10678, Greece
Zoe H Dailiana, Department of Hand, Upper Extremity and Microsurgery, Iaso Thessalias, Nikaia, Larissa 41500, Greece
Author contributions: Dailiana ZH and Chryssanthakis C designed the study; Vasdeki D and Stefanou N performed the research and analyzed the data; Vasdeki D wrote the manuscript; Dailiana ZH, Chryssanthakis C and Varitimidis SE made critical revisions related to the content of the manuscript; Dailiana ZH performed the language editing of the manuscript; All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, No. 16/12.02.2019.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None declared. None of the authors has received fees for serving as a speaker for any organization. None of the authors has received research funding. None of the authors is an employee of any organization. None of the authors owns stocks and/or shares. None of the authors owns any patent.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zoe H Dailiana, MD, PhD, Professor, Surgeon, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, 3 Panepistimiou Street, Biopolis, Larissa 41500, Greece. dailiana@med.uth.gr
Received: April 25, 2021 Peer-review started: April 25, 2021 First decision: June 17, 2021 Revised: June 16, 2021 Accepted: November 21, 2021 Article in press: November 21, 2021 Published online: January 9, 2022 Processing time: 254 Days and 13.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Acute hand and wrist injuries are common and may lead to long-term disability if not managed adequately. Claims for negligence have been increasing in medical practice over the past few decades, with hand and wrist injuries and their treatment representing a significant percentage of orthopedic surgery lawsuits. There is no available literature regarding medical malpractice claims in hand and wrist injuries and surgery in Greece.
AIM
To identify claims related to hand and wrist trauma and surgery and to define the reasons of successful litigations.
METHODS
We performed a retrospective study of all legal claims of negligence for hand and upper extremity surgery that went to a trial, attributed to all surgical specialties, in Greece for a 20-year period. Data was further analyzed to identify claims related to hand and wrist trauma and surgery.
RESULTS
There were six malpractice claims related to hand and wrist trauma that ended in a trial. A missed diagnosis, which resulted in failure of initial management of the injury, was the main reason for a claim. Three of the six cases resulted in complete or partial loss of a finger. Two cases are still open, requiring an expert witness’s report, two cases were closed in favor of the defendant, and two cases were closed in favor of the plaintiff with a mean compensation of €2000 (€1000-€3000).
CONCLUSION
Missed diagnosis was the main reason for a malpractice claim. Better understanding of factors leading to successful claims will help surgeons improve their practice to minimize legal implications and litigation.
Core Tip: This is the first report related to hand and wrist trauma malpractice claims in Greece. Hand and wrist injuries, although non-fatal, can lead to long-term disability if a delay in diagnosis or treatment occurs. Additionally, missed diagnosis and inadequate management of these injuries can be the leading cause for medical malpractice claims, which appear to have an upward trend over the last decades. We present six malpractice claims related to hand and wrist trauma that resulted in a trial over a 20-year period in Greece and their outcomes, aiming to determine the reasons that lead to successful litigations.
