Medical Malpractice in Cardiovascular Surgery; Cases Referred to Tehran Forensic Medicine Organization during 2011-13

Background: Cardiovascular surgeries are a most common and important surgeries in Iran and because of its high risk nature, the outcome is not always satisfactory, so could lead to a complaint. In recent years, there has been an increase in complaints against cardiovascular surgeons. Aim of current study was to determine the frequency of medical malpractice in the field of cardiovascular surgery in the cases referred to the Tehran forensic medicine commission. Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, all malpractice cases referred to the forensic medicine commissions in Tehran with regard to the field of cardiovascular surgery during 2011-2013 were collected. Information such as age, sex, type of hospital (state or private), type of cardiosurgery, type of malpractice, percentage of malpractice, cause of death, and background diseases were extracted and then analyzed. Results: Of the 56 cases, the frequency of malpractice was 27 cases (48.2 %) and the most important type of malpractice was negligence (32.2%) and the majority of cases were related to private centers. The most common malpractice was related to coronary artery disease and the main cause of complaint was the patient death (76.8%). 54.5% of malpractice rate was in men and in patients older than 60 years (67%) which was higher than other age groups. There was no significant association between age and sex with malpractice. Conclusion: Despite improvement in medical technology and the use of advanced techniques in the diagnosis and treatment, the complaint rate of cardiovascular surgeons is increasing. In addition to optimizing cardiovascular surgical techniques, informing the patient and his/her companions about the side effects of these high risk surgeries can be effective in prevention of malpractice and physician mistakes