Abstract

AIM
  We investigated the death circumstances among children in the Danish healthcare system by analysing closed claims.
METHODS
  This retrospective study investigated closed claims with regard to medically related deaths registered by the Danish Patient Insurance Association.
RESULTS
  From 1996 to 2008, 45 953 claims were made to the Danish Patient Insurance Association (DPIA) covering all medical specialties. Among these claims, a total of 3531 submitted claims were for children younger than 18 years old, and 74 of these children were registered as having died. Forty-one of the 74 deaths were caused by peripartum asphyxia or other birth-related reasons, and 33 children died of causes not related to their birth. Twenty-three of the 33 children died as a result of substandard treatment. This was the ruling of the DPIA or the courts of law on the claim. In these cases, the DPIA, the appeal board or the courts of law settled that an experienced specialist would have acted differently such that the injury could have been avoided.
CONCLUSION
  Twenty-three of the 33 deaths after the perinatal period could potentially have been avoided if experienced specialists had handled the cases.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Hove LD, Bock J, Christoffersen JK

Institution

Department of Anaesthesia, Hvidovre Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. ldhove@hotmail.com

Source

Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) 101:10 2012 Oct pg 1074-8

MeSH

Adolescent
Cause of Death
Child
Child Mortality
Child, Preschool
Denmark
Equipment Failure
Female
Financing, Government
Humans
Infant
Infant Mortality
Infant, Newborn
Insurance Claim Review
Insurance, Liability
Male
Medical Errors
Retrospective Studies

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22734625