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Lee, Lee, Kim, Woo, Kim, and Kim: A Study on the Current Status of Medical Lawsuits in Orthopedics in Korea
Original Article

Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association 2016; 51(3): 246-254.

Published online: 22 June 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4055/jkoa.2016.51.3.246

A Study on the Current Status of Medical Lawsuits in Orthopedics in Korea

Won Lee, M.P.H., Mi Jin Lee, Ph.D.*, Yong Min Kim, M.D.†, Chan Myung Woo, M.D.‡, So Yoon Kim, M.D.§, Yang-Soo Kim, M.D.∥

Doctoral Program in Medical Law and Ethics, Asian Institute for Bioethics and Health Law, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.

*Department of Humanities and Social Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.

†Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chungbuk National University School of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea.

‡Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Armed Force Hampyeong Hospital, Hampyeong, Korea.

§Department of Medical Law and Ethics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

∥Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.

Correspondence to: Yang Soo Kim, M.D. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, 222 Banpo-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul 06591, Korea. TEL: +82-2-2258-6117, FAX: +82-2-535-9834, kysoos@catholic.ac.kr

Received 26 May 2015       Revised 24 June 2015       Accepted 5 October 2015

Copyright © 2016 by The Korean Orthopaedic Association

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

Through the analysis of orthopedics lawsuit rulings, the purpose of this study is to understand the current trends of medical lawsuits in orthopedics in Korea.

Materials and Methods

An analysis of medical lawsuits in orthopedics was conducted. As the study method, a quantitative analysis was performed on 341 cases.

Results

The average period of lawsuits, from the occurrence of the medical accident to end of the ruling, took an average of 4.22 years. The most frequent procedure that was the main cause of the medical accidents was surgery, at 46.3%. When surgery is the main procedure that caused the medical accidents, the result of examining the types of surgeries showed that spine surgery had the highest percentage. For the outcome of the accident, the highest number of cases resulted in disability and for the final court outcome, 40.5% ruled partially in favor of the plaintiff (the patient) with acknowledgement of only the damage incurred due to medical error of the total sum claimed, and dismissal of the claim made by the plaintiff (patient) accounted for 34.3%; 26.1% of cases develop infection. For the amount of claim for damage, the average amount of claim was 181,998,036 won; in the judgement amount, the average amount of judgement was 58,897,161 won.

Conclusion

The most frequent procedure in orthopedics was surgery and spine surgery comprised a large proportion of these surgeries. Future studies to determine root causes of medical accidents should be conducted to reduce medical lawsuits and to plan against the repeating of medical accidents.

Keywords: medical lawsuit, medical lawsuit in orthopedics

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Increase Rate in the Cumulation of 33 Different Surgeries and in Orthopedic Surgery as in the Main Statistical Yearbook

jkoa-51-246-i001
Table 2

The Outcomes Analyzed in this Study

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*The type of surgery (when surgery is the main cause procedure): ① fracture, ② artificial joint implant, ③ ligament, ④ spine, ⑤ laceration, ⑥ other surgery.

Table 3

Progress of the Lawsuits

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Values are presented as number (%).

Table 4

Procedure Causing the Medical Accidents

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Values are presented as number (%).

Table 5

The Types of Surgery

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Values are presented as number (%).

Table 6

Outcome of the Accident

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Values are presented as number (%).

Table 7

Violation of Duty Type

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Values are presented as number (%).

Table 8

Body Part

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Values are presented as number (%).

Table 9

Final Court Outcome

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Values are presented as number (%).

Notes

This article is the revised version of Won Lee's master's thesis (2013, Yonsei University).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors have nothing to disclose.

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