Malpractice claims for endoscopy

Table 1 Endoscopy claims against gastroenterologists (1985 to 2006) n (%)

Etiology of claims	Frequency (n = 341)
Improper performance	175 (51.3)
Diagnosis error (failure, incorrect)	59 (17.3)
Meritless (no clear evidence)	35 (10.3)
Failure to supervise or monitor	17 (4.9)
Not indicated/contraindicated	14 (4.1)
Failure to recognize complication	12 (3.5)
Failure to communicate with patient	6 (1.8)
Delay in performance	4 (1.2)
Others	19 (5.6)

Table 2 Endoscopy claims by specialty against all providers according to procedure, ranked according to total claims payment to plaintiffs (1985-2008) (n = 1901)

Procedure	Closed claims	Total paid claims	Total claim payments ($)	Mean claim payments ($)
Colonoscopy	788	216	54 093 000	250 430.56
Flexible sigmoidoscopy	513	182	28 674 000	157 549.45
ERCP	217	67	25 207 000	376 223.88
Rigid proctoscopy	125	51	15 726 000	308 352.94
EGD	209	47	9 666 000	205 659.57
PEG	49	7	2 598 000	371 142.86
Internal medicine	766	-	70 730 101	261 963
Gastroenterology	562	-	30 841 008	250 740
General surgery	231	-	13 305 060	187 395
General/family practice	101	-	7 288 674	186 889
Colorectal surgery	87	-	6 593 000	286 652
Other specialties	154	-	7 206 157	163 776

ERCP: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography; EGD: Esophagogastroduodenoscopy; PEG: Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.

Table 3 Absolute percentage increase of average closed claims

	Linear increase/yr ($)	Model R2	Expon increase/yr, %	Model R2
Colonoscopy	229 000	0.3976	12.59	0.4874
ERCP	122 000	0.5098	19.06	0.4076
EGD	23 000	0.0567	7.53	0.1697
Sigmoidoscopy	-93 000	0.1873	-4.6	0.1938

ERCP: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography; EGD: Esophagogastroduodenoscopy.