Malpractice Litigation in Pediatric Ophthalmology

Abstract

IMPORTANCE Understanding outcomes of pediatric malpractice litigation allows ophthalmologists to gain insight into how to best care for patients and prevent such litigation. OBJECTIVES To report and analyze the causes and outcomes of ophthalmology medical malpractice litigation involving patients younger than 18 years. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The WestLaw database was reviewed from April 1 to 30, 2015, for ophthalmology-related lawsuits, including settlements and trial verdicts, in the United States from January 1, 1930, to December 31, 2014. Search terms included ophthalmology or ophthalmologist and malpractice anywhere in the retrieved documents. Cases in which the plaintiffs were younger than 18 years at the time of the inciting event were included. Pediatric cases were compared with adult cases. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Pediatric malpractice case outcomes and settlement amounts. RESULTS Sixty-eight ophthalmology malpractice cases involving plaintiffs younger than 18 years were included in the study. Thirty-five cases (51.5%) were resolved via jury trial. Of these 35 cases, verdicts in favor of the plaintiff were issued in 17 pediatric cases (48.6%), compared with 168 of 584 adult cases (28.8%)

Malpractice Litigation in Ocular Oncology

“…If patients choose nonintervention or do not adhere to the recommended schedule, this should be thoroughly documented in the medical record. Documenting patients' failure to return to the clinic is important when cases are brought to trial, which has been documented previously [12]. Additionally, patients should be informed of the possibility that surgical plans may shift intraoperatively, a discussion which may have prevented at least 1 case in this series.…”

“…WestLaw®, however, is a database of settlements and verdicts from a variety of insurers, which may present a more global picture of litigation in ophthalmology. As we have stated in other reports [11,12], potential limitations include changes in clinical practice over time, including new technology allowing more precise diagnosis and management, and changing patient and physician demographics and cultural values. Additionally, WestLaw® does not include out-of-court settlements and dropped cases, and it has been said that up to 85% of cases never make it to trial [35].…”

“…As described in previous publications [11,12], the database was queried to search all US civil trials involving ophthalmologists using the search terms “ophthalmology” or “ophthalmologist” and “malpractice” anywhere in the retrieved documents. Exclusion criteria included (1) ophthalmologist named as expert witness but not defendant and (2) filings before January 1, 1930, or after December 31, 2014.…”

“…Several publications focus on litigation in ophthalmology [11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]; however, there is no study focused specifically on ocular oncology in the literature to our knowledge. Ocular oncology represents a wide range of diseases involving not only the eye itself, but also the orbit and adnexal structures.…”

<p>Malpractice Litigation in Ophthalmic Trauma</p>

“…It does not contain all cases of litigation performed in the United States. As described in previous publications, [7][8][9][10] the database was queried to search all US civil trials involving ophthalmologists using the search terms "ophthalmology" or "ophthalmologist" and "malpractice" anywhere in the retrieved documents. Exclusion criteria included (1) ophthalmologist named as expert witness but not defendant, and (2) filings before January 1, 1930 or after Dec 31, 2014.…”