• The Laryngoscope · Aug 2004

    Medicolegal analysis of injury during endoscopic sinus surgery.

    • Alastair G Lynn-Macrae, Rebecca A Lynn-Macrae, Janaki Emani, Robert C Kern, and David B Conley.
    • Department of Otolaryngology, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. alastairlynnmacrae@yahoo.com
    • Laryngoscope. 2004 Aug 1;114(8):1492-5.

    ObjectivesTo survey the causes, characteristics, and outcomes of malpractice litigation resulting from injuries sustained during endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS).Study DesignA retrospective analysis of United States state and federal civil litigation involving injuries resulting from ESS.MethodsSources were state and federal court decisions and jury verdict reports accessed through a computerized legal database. The 41 cases were decided or settled between 1990 and 2003. The cases and reports were analyzed for pertinent data regarding plaintiffs, defendants, allegations of wrongdoing, resulting injury, expert witnesses, and resulting verdict or settlement. Correlation between severity of injury and case outcome was analyzed.ResultsAll suits reviewed involved ESS. Many cases included multiple causes of action, or types of malpractice, including negligent technique, 31 (76%); lack of informed consent, 15 (37%); and wrongful death, 2 (5%). The defendant-physician specialty was overwhelmingly otolaryngology, 40 (98%). The most common presenting complaint, or indication for surgery, was chronic sinusitis, 30 (73%). The injuries caused by surgery were frequently multiple, including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, 10 (24%); brain damage, 6 (15%); diplopia, 7 (17%); and death, 2 (5%). The majority of cases reviewed (83%) resulted in a verdict rather than settlement. The result of the verdict or settlement was 17 (41%) in favor of the plaintiff, 23 (56%) in favor of the defendant, and 1 (2%) unknown. The average award was 751,275 dollars, with a median of 410,239 dollars and a range of 61,000 dollars to 2,870,000 dollars.ConclusionsThis is the first study to review malpractice litigation resulting from injuries sustained during ESS and shows a hitherto unexpected pattern between severity of injury and case outcome.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.