Medical Malpractice Cases in Kerman Province, Iran (2010 - 2014)

Background: Medical malpractice is a major cause of patient complaints and dissatisfaction, which is an alarming event for healthcare professional and medical practitioners. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate medical malpractice cases in Kerman province, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional, retrospective study was performed to analyze the complaint cases reported in Kerman Medical Council and Kerman Legal Medicine Organization during 2010 - 2014. Physician data were recorded on age, gender, academic degree, specialty, work experience, place of failure, and type of medical malpractice. Data analysis was performed in SPSS. Results: In total, 551 complaint cases were investigated, 167 of which (31%) were medical malpractice cases. The most common medical malpractices were imprudence (44.31%) and carelessness (41.31%). In addition, most of the medical malpractice cases occurred in governmental hospitals (64.07%). In most of the cases, physicians with specialty degrees were convicted of medical malpractice (73.65%), and the highest number of the medical malpractices was observed in ophthalmology (20.95%). Conclusions: Despite the significant advancement in medical affairs, the rate of patient complaints and medical malpractices has increased noticeably.