Skip to main content

Table 1 Comparison of study variables by department

From: A comparison of medical litigation filed against obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, and surgery departments

Items

Department in which patients were treated

Obstetrics and gynecology

Internal medicine

Surgery

p-value *

Patient characteristics

 Age (years ± SD)

16.3 ± 19.4

37.6 ± 27.0

46.3 ± 20.7

<0.001

 Gender: Male only/Male + Female or Female only

17 (27.4)/45 (72.6)

48 (62.3)/29 (37.7)

84 (57.1)/63 (42.9)

<0.001

 Type of treatment: Elective or not urgently necessary/Othera

5 (8.1)/57 (91.9)

3 (3.9)/74 (96.1)

2 (1.3)/147 (98.7)

0.051

 Severity of injury: Death/Otherb

20 (32.3)/42 (67.7)

41 (53.2)/36 (46.8)

77 (51.7)/72 (48.3)

0.020

Physician characteristics

 Type of medical facility: Clinic/Hospital

21 (33.9)/41 (66.1)

14 (18.2)/63 (81.8)

12 (8.1)/137 (91.9)

<0.001

 Gender: Male only/Male + Female or Female only

45 (84.9)/8 (15.1)

57 (86.4)/9 (13.6)

127 (94.1)/8 (5.9)

0.080

 Number of physicians: 1/2 or more

44 (71.0)/18 (29.0)

46 (59.7)/31 (40.3)

47 (31.8)/101 (68.2)

<0.001

 Medical standard: Standard care/Not standard care

40 (64.5)/22 (35.5)

61 (80.3)/15 (19.7)

139 (93.3)/10 (6.7)

<0.001

 Acknowledgement of physician fault: yes/no

28 (45.2)/34 (54.8)

29(37.7)/48(62.3)

59 (39.6)/90 (60.4)

0.650

Litigation

 Judgment intervals: 1979–1996/1997–2008

42 (67.7)/20 (32.3)

38 (49.4)/39 (50.6)

73 (49.0)/76 (51.0)

0.034

 Use of a medical expert witness: yes/no

18 (29.0)/44 (71.0)

26 (33.8)/51 (66.2)

67 (45.0)/82 (55.0)

0.058

 Type of plaintiff: patient only/ patient & family, family only

8 (12.9)/54 (87.1)

10 (13.0)/67 (87.0)

51 (34.2)/98 (65.8)

<0.001

 Number of issues being litigated: 0–3/4+

28 (45.2)/34 (54.8)

51(66.2)/26(33.8)

76 (51.0)/73 (49.0)

0.028

 Concession rate

21.30 ± 27.29

18.15 ± 25.48

28.60 ± 52.02

0.179

  1. * t-test or χ2 test; results printed in bold are significant (p <0.05)
  2. a“Other” includes “treatment is urgently necessary”
  3. b“Other” includes temporary or permanent injury