Issue release date: 12.11.2024

 
Turkish Neurosurgery 2022 , Vol 32 , Num 6
Medical Liability in Neurosurgery: Greek Courts Decisions Analysis
Evangelia SAMARA1,Lampros TZOUMAS1,Konstantinos TZOUMAS1,Arian LENAS1,Georgios PAPADOPOULOS1
1University of Ioannina, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Department of Anesthesiology and Postoperative Intensive Care, Ioannina, Greece DOI : 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.37341-21.1 AIM: To assess the current situation in Greece regarding medical liability in neurosurgery, the involvement of anaesthetists in court decisions, the impact of court cases and decisions, the time taken to reach a final decision, and the relationship between these issues and judicial results.

MATERIAL and METHODS: Legal information banks were searched for published court decisions of criminal, civil, administrative and disciplinary content from 1985 to 2021.

RESULTS: A total of 52 court decisions were retrieved: 11 criminal court cases and 10 civil cases, including 7 cases of negligent homicide and 14 of bodily injuries. The duration of litigation in 17 cases was 5.5 years, while in 4 cases the duration was 14.5 years. The average compensation paid was ? 101,701.

CONCLUSION: Neurosurgery has a relatively small number of reported complaints of medical negligence compared to other surgical specialties in Greece. Complications of spinal surgeries represent the majority of court cases. There is a need for immediate judicial?legislative reform of the framework for seeking medical liability of doctors. Keywords : Medical liability, Malpractice, Neurosurgery, Spinal surgery

Corresponding author : Evangelia SAMARA, gelysamara@yahoo.com