JKOS Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 0378-6471 2092-9374 Korean Ophthalmological Society 10.3341/jkos.2015.56.7.1104 jkos-56-1104 Original Article Litigations in Ophthalmology for 25 Years in Korea YooYung Ju M.D 1 LeeKyung Kwon M.D 2 Attorney 2 Jeong-MinHwang M.D 1 3 Department of Ophthalmology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea Law Firm LK Partners, Seoul, Korea Department of Ophthalmology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea ￭ Address reprint requests to Jeong-Min Hwang, MD Department of Ophthalmology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, #82 Gumi-ro, 173beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam 463-707, Korea Tel: 82-31-787-7372, Fax: 82-31-787-4057 E-mail: hjm@snu.ac.kr 08 2015 27 8 2015 56 7 1104 1110 23 01 2015 13 05 2015 20 05 2015 Copyright © 2015 Korean Ophthalmological Society 2015 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Purpose:

To analyze the characteristics of defendants, court rulings and the compensation received in medical disputes relating to ophthalmology.

 Methods:

Retrospective analyses of ophthalmic claims obtained from websites between 1989 and 2014 were performed.

 Results:

Among 42 cases, 26 cases were ruled partially in favor of plaintiffs and 16 cases, ruled in favor of the defendant. Regarding the type of hospital, private clinics accounted for 22 claims, tertiary referral hospitals took 16 claims, and the secon-dary hospitals took 6 claims. The judgment amount of all of the lawsuits was ￦1,770,466,250 and average amount was ￦66,743,168 (￦5,000,000-￦455,869,936). The condition with the highest mean payment per claim was glaucoma (￦223,788,608). The consolation money for emotional distress due to violation of liability for explanation comprised a large pro-portion of the compensation, accounting for 62% of total payment. The conditions most likely to result in payment were those re-lated to the retina, which occurred in 7 cases (70%). The conditions most likely to be appealed to a higher court were those in-volving oculoplasty (100%). Mismanagement of tests and misdiagnosis occurred in 8 cases (62%), mismanagement of treat-ment occurred in 3 cases (23%), and mismanagement of anesthesia and recovery occurred in 1 case (9%).

 Conclusions:

Among all claims, those involving private clinics were most commonly involved (52%) and 62% of all claims were decided partially in favor of plaintiffs. Violation of liability during the explanation of the condition and negligence during the act of diagnosis and treatment were significant reasons for payment. Examination of these cases will help to promote patient safety and reduce repeated medical disputes.

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Ophthalmic subspecialties ranked by total damages, mean damages and the paid to closed ratio

Subspecialty Number of claims Percentage of total claims (%) Total damages (₩) Percentage of total payments (%) l Mean damages (₩) P Paid to closed ratio (%)
Refractive surgery 15 33.33 724,152,633 32.53 72,415,263 60
Vitreo-retina 10 22.22 591,309,578 26.56 84,472,797 70
Cataract 7 15.56 43,595,450 1.96 14,531,817 43
Glaucoma∗ 5 11.11 671,365,825 30.16 223,788,608 60
Oculoplasty 4 8.89 134,637,109 6.05 44,879,036 50
Anterior segment 2 4.44 23,131,711 1.04 23,131,711 50
Strabismus 1 2.22 10,000,000 0.45 10,000,000 100
Miscellaneous 1 2.22 28,143,880 1.26 28,143,880 100
Total 30 100 2,226,336,186 100 501,363,112 -　

Three cases overlapped with refractive surgery.