Profile of litigation for orthopaedic trauma

The number of medical litigation cases is on continuous rise causing enormous costs for the public health services. Noteworthy, there is a substantial variation in the likelihood of malpractice suits across specialties. In Germany, orthopaedic trauma surgeons are by far the most affected group with approximately 30% of all claims and in the USA they rank among the top 4 medical specialties with an increased risk of facing a lawsuit [1]. The mean indemnity payment in the US was estimated to be $274.887 per case, whereas a total of more than US$321,695,072 was paid in adult orthopaedic surgery-related settlements in the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2006 [2].
Source: Injury - Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research