Patient Characteristics Predict Occurrence and Outcome of Complaints against Physicians

Patient Characteristics Predict Occurrence and Outcome of Complaints against Physicians

"Background: A better understanding of the risk factors of medical malpractice is essential to implementing long-term prevention strategies. Certain physician characteristics have been reported to be associated with malpractice litigation. However, patient characteristics have not been fully investigated. Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted. Totally, 147 inpatient risk management file (RMF) cases and 44045 inpatient controls were reviewed. Demographic data of RMF cases and controls were compared to investigate the risk factors for filing of a complaint. Outcomes of the RMF cases were classified as resolution, settlement, and lawsuit. Results: RMF cases were associated with admission via emergency room (ER) (OR=1.62, P=0.005), surgical specialty (OR=1.86, P=0.001) and living in an urban area (OR=1.93, P<0.001). Once RMF case was filed, living in an urban area was the only independent factor for filing a lawsuit (OR=4.10, P=0.007). RMF cases with medical injury were more likely to receive settlement (OR=10.51, P<0.001) and to receive significantly higher settlement (P=0.007). The severity of medical injury positively correlated with the likelihood of receiving settlement and the amount of settlement. Only 15.0% of RMF cases entered the litigation phase and the median number of days needed to resolve the complaint was 28. Conclusions: Patients with certain characteristics tend to file complaints, receive settlement, or bring a case to court. Understanding of patient characteristics may have potential usefulness to predict occurrence and outcome of complaints against physicians."