Assessment of Some Medical Malpractice Cases During Surgical Procedures in Yemen

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant professor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana’a University.

Abstract

Aimofwork:-Thisresearchaimstostudysomecasesofmedicalmalpracticeandprovides guidanceformedicalpersonstominimizeorevenavoidmedicalmalpracticeamongYemenis. SubjectsandMethods:-ThisfirststudyinYemenwasdoneonhundredcasesofmedical malpracticeduringsurgerythatwerecollectedrandomlythroughthelasttenyears(1996-2005) frommanyplacesinYemen.Allcaseswereagingfrom3to70yearsold.Thegenderofpatient was54malesand46females.
Results:-Thisstudyshowedhighlysignificantincreaseofnumberofcasesbetweenages21-30, 41-50and51-60inbothsexesascomparedtoothergroupsofage,whileages11-20and31-40 showedsignificantincreaseinnumberofmalpracticecasesversusage61-70years.No significantdifferencebetweenfemalesandmalesamongthestudiedcases.Therewasvery highlystatisticalsignificantincreaseofnumberofmalpracticesthatdonebyonephysician whencomparedtothatdonebytwoorthreephysicians.Therewasveryhighlysignificant increaseinnumberofmalpracticecasesinpublichospitalversusotherhospitalsandinprivate hospitalsversusacademichospitals.Positivecasesofmedicalmalpracticewereveryhighly significantlydecreasedascomparedtonegativeoneinpublicandprivatehospitals&no significantdifferencebetweenpositiveandnegativecasesinacademichospitals.Therewas veryhighlysignificantincreaseinnumberofmalpracticecasesamongspecialistsascompareto universitystaffandconsultant.Therewasnostatisticalsignificantdifferencebetweenuniversity staffandconsultants.Therewasalsoveryhighlysignificantincreaseinnumberofnegative casesamonguniversitystaffandspecialists,butsignificantincreaseofnegativecasesas comparedtopositivecaseswasseenamongconsultants.Thisstudyprovedthatthegeneral surgeryshowedveryhighlysignificantincreaseinnumberofmalpracticecasesversusother groups.Urologyshowedsignificantincreaseinnumberofmalpracticecasesversusinternal medicineandneurosurgery.Itwasdemonstratedveryhighlysignificantincreaseinnumberof malpracticecasesduringintra-operativeandpost-operativestagesversusotherstages. Appendicectomyandcholecystectomyshowedveryhighlysignificantincreaseinnumberof malpracticecasesversusothertypesofoperations.Therewasnostatisticalsignificant differencebetweenthedistributionofcriminalandcivilcasesamongthestudiedcases.A statisticalsignificantdifferencewasshownbetweenthefinaloutcomeinnumberofdeathsand completerecoverywhencomparedwithcasesofpermanentdeformity.