What are responsible for the most common Anesthesia related lawsuits?
100
Hospital Risk management programs
What are oriented toward reducing liability and exposure of the organization?
100
The faithful will be forbidden the pleasures of the afterlife if they receive blood or blood products
What is a Jehovah's witness central religious belief?
100
Tort
What is civil wrongdoing?
100
CQI
What is a systems approach to identifying and improving quality of care?
200
Death, brain damage, nerve damage and airway injury
What are the causes for the most common lawsuits against anesthesiologists (excluding dental injuries)?
200
Patient relations, documentation, and adherence to standards of care
What are elements of risk management directly relevant to the liability exposure of the anesthesiologist?
200
DNAR orders
What are best clarified with the patient or their surrogate before anesthesia?
200
Duty, breach of duty, causation and damages
What are components of a successful Malpractice case?
200
JCAHO
What is the organization whose requirements guide hospital QI programs?
300
0.8/10,000
What is the mortality associated with anesthetics in the US?
300
Vigilance, upt-to-date knowledge and adequate monitoring
What are key factors in prevention of patient injury?
300
Informed consent
What is documentation in the patient record that the risks of Anesthesia and alternatives were discussed and that the patient accepted the proposed plan?
300
Expert witness
Whose opinion defines the standard of care in a malpractice case?
300
Structure, process and outcome
What are the three components of quality which can all be measured and improved?
400
Ulnar neuropathy
What is the most common nerve injury leading to anesthesia claims in the U.S.?
400
Inaccurate and incomplete anesthesia records
What can be damaging when placed before a jury
400
National Practitioner Databank
What is a nationwide physician information reporting system?
400
Believability of the expert witness
What often determines the success of a lawsuit?
400
System errors
What class of errors are controllable and can be minimized?
500
1-2/1000 (may be less in ambulatory patients)
What is the incidence of awarenes during GA for patients in a tertiary care setting?
500
Disclosure discussion
What is an honest discussion with the patient and family about what happened (error, complication) and it's cause; with a proposed plan for follow-up, treatment and continued communication.
500
Chronic Pain Manangement
What is an increasing source of claims against anesthesiologists?
500
Discovery
What is gathering facts and clarification of issues in advance of a trial; includes iterrogatory and deposition
500
Sentinel events
What events are investigated in order to uncover systematic problems in the delivery of care that can be corrected?