"Second victims" in Covid-19 pandemic: A crosssectional study among medical doctors of the Catanzaro Hospital

Introduction: Medical errors are a serious public health problem. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused further stress to doctors with the increase in patient mortality, the lack of definite guideline and growing work demands. In this scenario, the patient is not the only victim of the medical error. The "second victim" (SV) is defined as a health worker who was involved in an unforeseen and negative event for the patient, who suffers physically and psychologically, because he was traumatized by his own mistake and/or by the injuries caused to the patient. The SV phenomenon prevalence varies from 10.4% up to 43.3%. Objective(s): The aim of this study is to evaluate the second victim phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic among medical doctors of the Catanzaro University Hospital (Italy). Method(s): A cross-sectional study will be conducted by administering an anonymous questionnaire to the Catanzaro University Hospital medical doctors using SurveyMonkey software. Descriptive analysis will be performed. Result(s): The data collection is ongoing. Currently, 300 subjects are included in the sample. Conclusion(s): The second victim phenomenon has a negative impact on doctors, colleagues and patients. It is important to aid health workers involved in an adverse event by activating support networks and adopting appropriate strategies in order that the event is a source of learning and not of demotivation.

Death Related to a Congenital Vascular Anomaly of Pulmonary Hamartoma Type: Malpractice or Tragic Fatality?

In forensic pathology, apparently straightforward cases can often hide rarities that, if not correctly interpreted, can alter the results of the entire investigation, leading to misinterpretations. This occurs when the investigation is conducted to assess medical malpractice. An unexpected death, with no known apparent cause, is often linked to an underlying disease process of unclear etiological origin whose nature can, unfortunately, be properly investigated only post-mortem. This presentation shows a case study, in which it was possible to reconduct the death of a patient to a natural pathology and not to medical treatment. Here, the authors illustrate a case with a hamartoma developed in chronic inflammatory conditions (bronchiectasis) that was difficult to differentiate from lung cancer due to the inability to perform specific instrumental examinations. The hamartoma, usually benign and identifiable by standard instrumental investigations, in this case, led to the patient's death precisely during the execution of a bronchoscopy. However, in the absence of a certain cause of death, public opinion unanimously attributes a patient's disease to medical error. Indeed, a routine practice such as bronchoscopy should not cause death and consequently, the doctor must have made a mistake. Fortunately, the autopsy not only demonstrated the origin of the bleeding but also unveiled the reason for this, as rare congenital lung disease. Fate, one might say.

Correlation Between Malpractice Litigation and Legislation Reform in Taiwan Over a 30-Year Period.

BACKGROUND: The annual medical litigation rate has increased yearly since 1987 in Taiwan. Policy makers keep going medical legislation reforms. The effectiveness of legislation reforms to reduce malpractice litigation risk is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether medical legislation reform helps reduce the risk of medical litigation. DESIGN SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective study used national data obtained from Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan. The period analyzed was from 1987 to 2018. The annual medical litigation rate was determined, types of medical negligence litigation were compared, medical appraisal results were summarized, and the importance of medical legislation was identified. INTERVENTIONS: After legislation reform vs before legislation reform. MEASUREMENTS: The main outcome showed trends in medical dispute assessments over time by adjusting for the general population (per 1, 000, 000 people). We established 2004 and 2012 as the 2 cut-points for further analysis of medical appraisal results due to legislation reform. RESULTS: With legislation reforms, the annual medical litigation rate decreased from 26.68 cases per million people in 2012 to 16.41 cases per million people in 2018. The annual medical litigation rate declined by approximately 38% from 2012 to 2018. Medical appraisal results were malpractice cases in 22.1% before Medical Care Act (2004 Reform) compared with 18.8% from 2004 to 2012 (odds ratio [OR], 0.82; 95% CI, 0.727-0.924; p=0.001), and 6.4% after mediation system introduced in 2012 (odds ratio [OR], 0.243; 95% CI, 0.205-0.288; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Medical legislation reform has reduced the risk of malpractice litigation over time.

[Case report: death of a 2-year-old girl with postmortem diagnosis of a rare coronary artery vasculitis typical for Kawasaki syndrome]. / Fallbericht: Tod eines 2-jährigen Mädchens bei postmortaler Diagnose einer seltenen, Kawasaki-Syndrom-typischen Koronararterienvaskulitis.

Coronary artery autoimmune vasculitis (Kawasaki syndrome) is at least in Germany a very rare condition, that typically manifests in childhood. The symptoms are often unspecific and complications with vascular aneurysms, thrombosis and myocardial infarction can occur. Multiple cases of Kawasaki-like symptoms in children with positive SARS-CoV­2 test results have been reported during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic the past year.This case study reports on a 2-year-old child who had fever over 6 days and after a temporary improvement, died within 1 day (pre-COVID19 era).The autopsy showed autoimmune vasculitis of the right and left main coronary artery consistent with Kawasaki syndrome with aneurysm formation, acute thrombosis and myocardial infarction.In the case of macroscopically conspicuous dilated and/or thrombosed coronary arteries and/or myocardial infarction in children, a Kawasaki syndrome should be excluded in addition to other differential diagnoses.

The fine line of defensive medicine.

Defensive medicine is a practice that has been utilized by clinicians in efforts of preventing patient dissatisfaction and malpractice claims and may be done through either omission or commission. As much as 57% of physicians have disclosed that they practice defensive medicine. However, this practice does not necessarily prevent malpractice claims and more importantly, neither does it equate to good medical practice, with some leading to poor outcomes. Unfortunately, there is a high percentage of malpractice claims lodged against clinicians in both primary care and hospital settings. Specialists such as surgeons, obstetricians, and gynecologists face the highest claims. In particular, during the SARS CoV-2 pandemic, with new challenges and limited treatment algorithms, there is an even greater concern for possible bourgeoning claims. Counteracting defensive medicine can be accomplished through decriminalizing malpractice claims, leaving physician oversight up to state medical boards and hospital claims management committees. Additional tort reform measures must also be taken such as caps on noneconomic damages to ensure emphasis on beneficence and nonmaleficence. Once these are in place, it may well serve to increase clinician-patient trust and improve patient independence in the shared decision-making process of their treatment, allowing clinicians to practice their full scope of practice without feeling wary of potential malpractice claims.

Burnout among physicians working in a pandemic hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aimed to investigate burnout among physicians during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was conducted in a pandemic hospital which is among the largest hospital complexes in Turkey. Internal medicine physicians actively working in many departments under the severe conditions in the diagnosis and treatment processes were included. Among the physicians constituting the study population, residents, attendings, and subspecialists from different fields were included. These physicians were working in the quarantine services, inpatient services, intensive care units, and polyclinics. A short and easy face-to-face survey, in which included questions on demographic information, medicolegal subjects, and questions from the Maslach Burnout Inventory, was used to collect data. While 58.2% of the physicians stated that they were extremely worried about malpractice in the pandemic period, 82.1% stated they needed training on medicolegal subjects, and 25.4% stated they were exposed to violence during work. Three sub-dimensions within the burnout inventory were compared with other parameters. The Cronbach alpha value was found highly reliable in the evaluation of the answers' internal consistency. The notable significance of burnout was interesting regarding physicians' anxiety on medicolegal issues and exposure to violence (p < 0.05). The findings obtained in this study suggest that healthcare workers' motivations will increase if they feel valued, their working conditions have been improved, and if they are in mentally well. This mental wellness may contribute to fighting public health crises such as a pandemic more efficiently with the lowest number of casualties.

The medico-legal implications in medical malpractice claims during Covid-19 pandemic: Increase or trend reversal?

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a marked increase in admissions to intensive care units. The critically ill patients' condition from the infection resulted in their deaths. The healthcare facilities have got into trouble because of the pandemic. In fact, they had to create additional beds in a very short time and to protect health workers with personal protective equipment. Healthcare professionals fear that there will be an increase in complaints and medico-legal malpractice claims and hence they have urged politicians to discuss this. The Italian Parliament recently debated the topic of medical liability and passed the Decree-Law no. 18 of 17 March 2020 (DL - so called Cura Italia) by which they want to extend the concept of "gross negligence" to healthcare facilities. Several Extended Care Units have suffered from outbreaks of Covid-19, so the Prosecutor's Office of several cities initiated investigations against them. This situation has reached Sicily, where the Prosecutor's Office of Palermo has opened an inquiry against an Extended Care Unit. Simultaneously, the Covid-19 pandemic may change patients' attitudes towards healthcare professionals, who are risking their lives daily. So the Italian medico-legal community is debating these questions, with one last pending question remaining: is the number of medico-legal claims likely to increase or trend down?