Quality of medical care and surgical patient safety: medical error, malpractice and professional liability

Background: Over time, a significant number of definitions and concepts on quality of care have been identified. This study focuses on quality of care from the perspective of medical patients. Discussion: Quality of medical care includes different areas: opportunity, professional qualifications, safety, respect for ethical principles of medical practice and satisfaction with care outcomes. In this regard, at CONAMED (National Commission for Medical Arbitration), 8062 complaints were followed, analyzed and completed between June 1996 and December 2008: in 16.8% of the complaints there were insufficient data to determine whether or not there was evidence of malpractice; 20.8% of the complaints had evidence of malpractice and in 62.4% of complaints the existence of good practice was determined according to the lex artis. Among the surgical specialties with the highest malpractice cases were the following: general surgery, gynecology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, emergency surgery, urology and traumatology. Conclusions: Acknowledgment of the concept of quality of health care provides a starting point to determine the source of errors, malpractice and professional responsibility in order to resolve and prevent them. CONAMED offers alternative means for conflict resolution related to physician-patient relationship by means of conciliation and arbitration, favoring patient and family, as well as the medical profession.