بررسی فراوانی شکایت از قصور پزشکی پرونده‌های ارجاع شده به پزشکی قانونی و نظام پزشکی شهرستان ساری در سال‌های 89-1385

Background and purpose: Ône of the most important physician’s job difficulties is the patient’s dissatisfaction and malpractice lawsuit, and its effects on their personal and professional life. Ünfortunately despite of all progresses made, and new technologies in the field of disease diagnosis and management, the prevalence of medical lawsuits is increasing over the time. Medical errors can occur in any part of health care system. Ëpidemiological research is needed to determine how many medical errors are made in hospitals. Ôur goal is to determine the frequency of malpractice lawsuits, motivations, the prevalence and type of errors, and finally to give some solutions to minimize the risk of medical malpractices and to improve patient safety. Materials and methods: Âll malpractice lawsuits referred to forensic medicine department and medical council in Sari in the years 2006-2011 Jan were used to collect information about errors and the data were analyzed using statistical exams. Results: Âmong 192 cases, in 27.1 % of them medical errors were discovered. The most frequent lawsuits and medical errors were committed in 2009 (22.4%, 28.8%). The most frequent medical errors were recognized in orthopedics, dentistry, general surgery, general practice and plastic surgery, 86.5% of practitioners were male and 13.5% were female. Ïn the majority of cases a surgical procedure was done and occurring medical error resulted in patient disability. Çonclusion: The data showed that the frequency of malpractice lawsuits and medical errors were increasing during the years of study. We can drive efforts in planning reeducational and medical ethics courses, improving the insurance coverage and revising management system to reduce medical errors.