Do Plastic Surgery Residents Get Sued? An Analysis of Malpractice Lawsuits

Alexander R. Gibstein, BA; Sinan K. Jabori, MD; Arjun Watane, MD; Benjamin Slavin, MD; Rawan Elabd, MD; Iakov V Efimenko, BS; Devinder Singh, MD

Introduction 

• Plastic and reconstructive surgery carries a high risk for malpractice litigation

• Trainees may be implicated in malpractice lawsuits

• Our study has evaluated the percentage of malpractice cases among plastic surgery residents and quantified the financial impact on their career

 

Objectives 

• To analyze the events that precipitated litigation to better understand how to:

    • Prevent future occurrence

    • Improve malpractice education in residency programs

    • Decrease this burden on future plastic surgeons

    • Improve patient satisfaction and outcomes

 

Methods 

• Jury verdicts and settlements from appellate state and federal cases between February 1988 and 2020 were queried from the LexisNexis legal database

• Data collected from these cases included:

      • Plaintiff and patient demographics

      • Case characteristics

      • Allegations

      • Outcomes

      • Cases were manually reviewed by 2 independent authors

 

Results: 

• 21 malpractice cases were identified

     • 14 (66.67%) involved claims in which a trainee was directlynamed as a defendant.

• 18 (85.7%) cases were due to procedural-related adverse

outcomes

     • 5 (27.8%) occurred when the trainee was the lead surgeon.

• 3 (14.3%) cases were associated with clinical or diagnosticrelated adverse outcomes.

 

Discussion:

• Physicians in surgical specialties have the highest risk of malpractice litigation compared to other fields. Specifically, plastic surgeons have a 15% chance annually of being sued.

• The data shows that a trainee may be named as a defendant at any time on their training continuum (both junior and senior trainees)

• Though trainees may be deeply involved in patient care, lack of comprehensive clinical and communication experiences may impact this risk

• Residents do not receive formal education on litigation

• Miscommunication was the underlying issue among the majority of allegations analyzed

 

Conclusion: 

• Understanding the claims against plastic surgery trainees may help mitigate litigation risk by developing best practices.

• Procedural error, improper informed consent, improper trainee supervision, and resident inexperience were the most common allegations raised.

• Residents should receive formal education during residency to mitigate this financial and psychological burden