Malpractice litigation following spine surgery.

CONCLUSIONS Delays in the diagnosis and the treatment of a surgical complication predict legal case outcomes favoring the plaintiff. Catastrophic complications are linked to large sums awarded to the plaintiff and are predictive of rulings against the physician. For physician defendants, the costs of settlements are significantly less than those of losing in court. Although this study provides potentially valuable data from a large series of postoperative litigation cases, it may not provide a true representation of all jurisdictions, each of which has variable malpractice laws and medicolegal environments. PMID: 28731391 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Journal of Neurosurgery.Spine - Category: Neurosurgery Authors: Tags: J Neurosurg Spine Source Type: research