Gastroenterology

“Medicine used to be simple, ineffective and relatively safe. Now it is complex, effective and potentially dangerous” (Chantler). Gastroenterology includes the consultation and endoscopy sections that could not be separated, and together exposed the patients to clinical errors and procedure complications, and the physician to law suits. In USA gastroenterology takes the 6th place in the number of claims, and the 16th place in the amount of money paid to the plaintiff. In a recent study from Japan, a significant increase in the number of claims for inappropriate treatments was found between the periods of 1990- 1999 and 2000-2009. No significant change was demonstrated for treatment complications, delayed diagnosis, procedure complications or lack of informed consent. We looked at claims against the largest health insurance organization in Israel, Clalit Health Services, in the period of 2000-2006 and found 183 claims against gastroenterologists for a population base of 4 millions insured people. Almost all the claims were about complications of endoscopic procedures, with 27 mortality cases. Quality of management and patient’s safety became the main goals of health strategy for prevention of adverse events as well as wasting lot of resources for claims. Quality indicators and risk management should be implanted in every gastroenterological unit and become an integral part of the daily work and good clinical practice

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Last date updated on September, 2024