Abstract
This study investigated 83 cases of criminal prosecution involving medical malpractice (including 25 medical lawsuits for surgical errors) between 1999 and 2009. Of the accidents that occurred in operating rooms, 44% of lawsuits were filed in district courts, and 84% of physicians were sued.
Of the total number of medical lawsuits for surgical errors, 11 (44%) were filed in municipal courts, and the number of requests for a court trial was higher than that of summary indictments compared to all criminal prosecution cases. Eighty-nine percent of medical malpractice lawsuits involved the prosecution of physicians for surgical errors.
When the accidents were reviewed by cause, 21 cases (84%) were not related to simple malpractices, but were due to malpractice related to the quality of medical care. Three recent accidents in which physicians were found not guilty were related to quality of medical care. Physicians had to struggle many years to obtain verdicts of “not guilty.”
