Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Global Open (Jun 2023)

Professional Liability in Plastic Surgery: A Change of Scenario in Medical Professional Liability in Spain

  • Carles Martin-Fumadó, MD, PhD,
  • Josep Benet-Travé, MD, PhD,
  • Robert Güerri-Fernández, MD, PhD,
  • Anna López-Ojeda, MD,
  • Oriol Bermejo-Segú, MD,
  • Josep Arimany-Manso, MD, PhD

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000005054
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 6
p. e5054

Abstract

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Background:. The epidemic of complaints and/or litigation, both in and out of court, for cases of alleged malpractice has increased dramatically. In Spain, claims related to plastic surgery are gaining more and more interest. Methods:. The Council of Medical Associations of Catalonia database was used to analyze claims related to plastic surgery from 1986 to 2021. Results:. 1039 claims (9.8% over 10,567 total claims) were studied. Both the total number of claims (P = 0.016; R2=0.16) and the number of claims for plastic surgery (P < 0.0005; R2=0.732) showed an upward trend during the period of study. In the period from 2000 to 2021, the behavior was different; while the number of total claims stabilized (P = 0.352; R2 = 0.043), plastic surgery claims continued to show a time-related tendency to increase (P < 0.0005; R2=0.484). The distribution was 50.12% out of court. Ten unique procedures accounted for 84.5% of the total number of claims. Liability was observed in 21.46% of the closed claims, with differences between civil (20.34%), criminal (6.89%), and out-of-court (25.53%) procedures. Regarding compensation amounts, out-of-court cases had an average of 33,169.44 euros paid; civil cases, 29,153.37 euros; and criminal cases, 37,186.88 euros. Conclusions:. The increase in the number of cases can only be related to an increase in the activity carried out by plastic surgeons. There has been a change in Spain in terms of the most sought-after medical specialty, with plastic surgery having displaced the perennially most sought-after specialty, orthopedic surgery and traumatology.