Surgical fires and unintended intraoperative burns cause serious patient harm, yet surveillance data are lacking in Canada. Medico-legal data provide unique descriptions of these events which can inform burn prevention strategies. We extracted 5 years of data on closed (2012–2016) medico-legal cases involving surgical fires and burns from the database of our organization which, in 2016, provided medico-legal support to >93,000 Canadian physicians. We performed a retrospective descriptive analysis of contributing factors using an in-house coding system and case reviews. We identified 53 eligible burn cases: 26 from thermal sources (49.1%), 16 from fires (30.2%), 5 from chemical sources (9.4%), and 6 from undetermined sources (11.3%). Common burn sources were electrosurgical equipment, lasers, lighting, and improper temperatures (causing thermal burns), cautery or lasers combined with supplemental oxygen and/or a flammable fuel source (causing fire), and improperly applied solutions including antiseptics (causing chemical burns). Nontechnical factors also contributed to patient outcomes, such as nonadherence to protocols (15 cases, 28.3%), failures in surgical team communication (3 cases, 5.7%), and lost situational awareness leading to delays in recognizing and treating burns (7 cases, 13.2%). This retrospective study highlights a need for improved surgical safety interventions to address surgical fires and burns. These interventions could include: effectively implemented surgical safety protocols, surgical team communication strategies, and raising awareness about preventing, diagnosing, and managing surgical burns.

Background: Intraoperative injuries during abdominopelvic surgery can be associated with substantial patient harm. The objective of this study was to describe abdominopelvic intraoperative injuries and their contributing factors among medicolegal cases. Methods: This study was a descriptive analysis of medicolegal matters reported to a national body, with subgroup analyses by type of surgery. We reviewed medicolegal matters involving a population-based sample of physicians who were subject to a civil legal action or complaint to a regulatory authority that was closed between 2013 and 2017 in Canada. Results: Our analysis included 181 civil legal cases and 88 complaints to a regulatory authority. Among legal cases, 155 patients (85.6%) (median age 47 yr) underwent elective procedures. The most common injury site was the bowel (53 cases [29.3%]). Injuries frequently occurred during dissection (79 [43.6%]) and ligation (38 [21.0%]), were identified postoperatively (138 [76.2%]) and necessitated further surgery (139 [76.8%]). Many patients experienced severe harm (55 [30.4%]) or died (25 [13.8%]). Peer experts in nongynecologic cases were more likely than those in gynecologic cases to include criticisms of a provider in a harmful incident (79 [71.2%] v. 30 [42.9%], p < 0.01). Peer expert criticisms often related to clinical evaluation, decision-making and misidentification of anatomy. Criticisms of nontechnical skills identified documentation and communication deficiencies. Conclusion: This study confirms the importance of provider and team training to improve clinical evaluation and decision-making, documentation and communication. Effective protocols may help support clinicians in providing safer surgical care.

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