Sociological Analysis of Medical Malpractice in Tehran: A Mixed Method Study

Medical malpractice is a dysfunction of modern medicine and a social problem in medical sociology that threatens patients’ health and has negative consequences for society and physicians. The aim of this study was to sociological analyze of medical malpractice in Iran. This exploratory study was conducted by mixed method design, with qualitative method dominance: QUAL+ quan. For data collection in Qualitative part a set of variety tools were used, included: non-participant observation in Dispute Resolution Council Sessions, Semi-structured interview with 15 patients and 15 doctors who engaged in medical malpractice complaint. Quantitative part is a descriptive study essentially that determines the characteristics of the complaints file and describes the patients’ demographic characteristics who engaged in medical malpractice complaint in Dispute Resolution Council. Sampling method was Convenience and 370 medical malpractice complaint files were surveyed. Data analysis was conducted by Parallel analysis of mixed data that included 2 separated process of data analysis: qualitative analysis of data by thematic analysis of data and analysis of quantitative data by descriptive statistics. Finally, inferences of qualitative and quantitative analysis were integrated in Discussion and conclusion of study.   The findings of this study showed that the most important axes of conflict between patients and doctors were financial interests, specialized knowledge, and organizational power. Patients and physician had different viewpoint and interpretation about medical intervention outputs, as physicians usually consider outcomes acceptable and don’t accept medical malpractice occurrence while patients suppose the medical intervention outcome is bad and non-acceptable and consider the adverse effects as medical malpractice. Study of medical malpractice files reveled around two third of patients’ primary chief complaint were been Cosmetic Medical and Surgical Procedures. More than half of patients believed that payment for medical services was unfair or completely unfair. Around half of patients had pursued medical malpractice complaint to earn compensation payment. It is concluded that medical malpractice as a social problem in the field of health is the result of a double conflict between patient and physician with two axes included financial benefits and power.