Claims of malpractice investigated by the Committee of Medical Ethics, Egyptian Medical Syndicate, Cairo

Abstract

Files of medical malpractice claims represent a valuable source of information on medical errors. Therefore, a greater understanding of the claims may highlight their causes and thus help to prevent them. This study aims to revise the closed claims of malpractice investigated by The Committee of Medical Ethics in the Egyptian Medical Syndicate in the years 2008 and 2009 in order to determine the causes of claims and their characteristic distribution. This study included 91 claims. The claims’ files were investigated for the causes, the resulting injuries, and litigation outcomes, as well as their distribution regarding locations of the claims’ events and defendant physicians’ characteristics. Improper performance of the procedure was the most frequent cause (21%), followed by unethical conduct (19%) and surgery in a non-equipped place (16%). Regarding the location of the claims’ events, urban areas were more frequent than rural areas. There were no significant differences either in the frequency or severity of injuries between claims caused by events that occurred in outpatient health care settings and those that occurred in inpatient health care settings. The private health sector was a more frequent site of claims’ events compared with the public health sector. Obstetrics/gynecology was found to be the most frequent specialty of the defendant physicians of the claims. Although most of the events of the claims resulted in severe injuries, they are preventable. This indicates the great need for more effort to increase patient safety in all health care settings.