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MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
William Landess, CRNA, MS, JD
Malpractice Trends in the Ambulatory Arena
As cases migrate to the outpatient setting, claims are following.
A
long with obstetrics/gynecology, it's no secret that anesthesia and
various surgical specialties carry the highest risk of malpractice.
What might come as a surprise is the rising number of malpractice
events that are occurring in outpatient settings. According to "Malpractice
Risk in Ambulatory Settings: An Increasing and Underrecognized Problem," a
recent review in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(tinyurl.com/8la4my3), nearly half of malpractice events occurred in the outpa-
tient arena in 2009.
Although the total number of claims gradually declined during the 5-year (2005
to 2009) study period, the rate of the decline was slower in the ambulatory setting. Could the increase in outpatient malpractice claims be a byproduct of the
shift of care delivery from inpatient to outpatient settings? Let's take a closer
look at the numbers — and what you need to know to do your part to reduce
outpatient claims.
Q
A
What kinds of events are most commonly
happening in outpatient surgical facilities?
Outpatient surgical claims mirror inpatient surgical claims: anesthesia
and airway problems and aspirations; nerve compression injuries;
wrong-site and -procedure events; retained instruments or packing; failed outcomes; repeat procedures for correction; and post-operative infections. Any
claim that can manifest itself in hospitals can occur in outpatient settings and,
as cases migrate to outpatient settings, claims are sure to follow.
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | O C T O B E R 2012
