The Difference Between Malpractice and Adverse Event: Report of a Case and Review of the Literature

Author Info

Damaskos Christos Dimitrios Mantas Spartalis Eleftherios

Corresponding Author

Dimitrios Mantas
Professor of Surgery, 2nd Department of Propedeutic Surgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laiko General Hospital, Athens, Greece

A B S T R A C T

Background/Aim: The practice of surgery may lead to unexpected results and most such results come due to risk in the practice of medicine. Our aim is to identify the difference between malpractice and adverse event. Case Presentation: A young male patient who experienced a cascade of adverse events after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy and even though he had the ultimate treatment an unknown and extensive atherosclerotic coronary arteries disease had led to a fatal left ventricular corruption due to an extensive myocardial infarction. Results: The relatives of the patient filed a lawsuit against the surgeon due to the perception that death was caused by malpractice. Conclusion: Evidence-based medicine should not become defensive, since not every unpleasant event is due to malpractice or negligence.

Article Info

Article Type

Case Report and Review of the Literature

Publication history

Received: Fri 04, Dec 2020
Accepted: Sat 26, Dec 2020
Published: Thu 31, Dec 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Dimitrios Mantas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.JSCR.2020.04.11