Medical malpractice after treatment of Peyronie's disease.

Abstract

Background: Peyronie's Disease is a fibrotic tunica albuginea disorder resulting in penile deformity.

Aim: This analysis provides an important investigation of medical malpractice cases related to the treatment of Peyronie's Disease.

Methods: The LexisNexis+ and Westlaw databases were used to access all federal and state cases as well as jury verdicts and settlements. The databases were queried for the term "Peyronie Disease" and "Peyronie's Disease" between the years 1980 and 2024. One author manually reviewed all cases to find cases involving a patient suing the urologist or medical system after treatment for Peyronie's disease. Cases that did not sue the urologist in question and cases not directly pertaining to the consequences of Peyronie's disease were ruled out. Cases were categorized into reasons the plaintiff sued the defendant: infection, pain, deformity, erectile dysfunction, dysfunction of penile prosthesis, failure of informed consent, incorrect diagnosis, and improper surgical technique.

Outcomes: The main outcome was which chief allegations commonly lead to medical malpractice litigation.

Results: Investigation of the LexisNexis+ database yielded 76 cases. The Westlaw database offered 165 cases. After exclusion criteria, 22 cases were included from the LexisNexis+ database and an additional seven cases not identified in LexisNexis were included from Westlaw for a total of 29 cases. Fifteen of the cases ruled in favor of the defendant. Thirteen cases ruled in favor of the plaintiff with awards ranging from $97 500 to $3 971 917. The most common cause for litigation included dysfunction of a penile prosthesis, which was a precipitating issue in 37.9% of cases. Patients experiencing post-treatment infection were alleged in 34.5% of cases. Failure of informed consent was alleged in 20.7% of cases. Improper surgical technique was alleged in 20.7% of cases. Among the cases that ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the most common chief allegations included dysfunction of penile prosthesis, failure of informed consent, infection, improper surgical technique, erectile dysfunction, deformity, and incorrect diagnosis. 37.9% of cases originated from the southern region of the United States. Of the 13 cases that ruled in favor of the plaintiff, 38.5% were from the South and 38.5% were from the West.

Clinical implications: Urologists remain at risk of encountering medical malpractice litigation after treatment of Peyronie's Disease.

Strengths and limitations: We used strict inclusion criteria to ensure consistency of analysis Peyronie's disease treatment.

Conclusion: This analysis identified that allegations were most common in Southern states, with the primary allegation being dysfunction of the penile prosthesis.