TY - JOUR
T1 - Malpractice litigation in vitreoretinal surgery and medical retina
AU - Engelhard, Stephanie B.
AU - Justin, Grant A.
AU - Zimmer-Galler, Ingrid E.
AU - Sim, Austin J.
AU - Reddy, Ashvini K.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Acta Orthopaedica Belgica.
PY - 2020/5
Y1 - 2020/5
N2 - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To report and analyze the causes and outcomes of vitreoretinal surgery and medical retina malpractice litigation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The WestLaw database was reviewed for all vitreoretinal malpractice litigation in the United States between 1930 and 2014. RESULTS: One hundred forty-two retina cases were included. Overall, 64.1% of cases were resolved in favor of defendants. Eighty-three (58.5%) cases were resolved via jury trial, 30.1% of which were associated with plaintiff verdicts with mean adjusted jury award of $5,222,894 (median, $691,974). Eight cases (5.6%) resulted in settlements with mean adjusted indemnity of $726,003 (median: $437,165). Jury awards were higher than settlement awards (P =.04). Commonly litigated scenarios included retinal detachment (46.5%) and retinopathy of prematurity (9.2%). CONCLUSIONS: The complexity of treating vitreoretinal problems and the high potential for vision loss inherent in many diagnoses make treating retinal problems high-risk. Many cases in this series resulted in multi-million-dollar plaintiff awards.
AB - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To report and analyze the causes and outcomes of vitreoretinal surgery and medical retina malpractice litigation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The WestLaw database was reviewed for all vitreoretinal malpractice litigation in the United States between 1930 and 2014. RESULTS: One hundred forty-two retina cases were included. Overall, 64.1% of cases were resolved in favor of defendants. Eighty-three (58.5%) cases were resolved via jury trial, 30.1% of which were associated with plaintiff verdicts with mean adjusted jury award of $5,222,894 (median, $691,974). Eight cases (5.6%) resulted in settlements with mean adjusted indemnity of $726,003 (median: $437,165). Jury awards were higher than settlement awards (P =.04). Commonly litigated scenarios included retinal detachment (46.5%) and retinopathy of prematurity (9.2%). CONCLUSIONS: The complexity of treating vitreoretinal problems and the high potential for vision loss inherent in many diagnoses make treating retinal problems high-risk. Many cases in this series resulted in multi-million-dollar plaintiff awards.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086299508&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3928/23258160-20200501-04
DO - 10.3928/23258160-20200501-04
M3 - Article
C2 - 32511730
AN - SCOPUS:85086299508
SN - 1542-8877
VL - 51
SP - 272
EP - 278
JO - Ophthalmic Surgery Lasers and Imaging Retina
JF - Ophthalmic Surgery Lasers and Imaging Retina
IS - 5
ER -