Complications Versus Lawsuits !

Abstract

Not every medical claim or lawsuit is necessarily result of a complication or a malpractice. This is especially true in Plastic surgery practice. It was interesting to compare serious surgical complications and mortality risk in various specialties. Gastric bypass surgery, a very popular bariatric procedure designed to treat obesity carries a mortality risk of 0.3% within a month (1:333 cases). Laparoscopic cholecystectomy carries a mortality risk of 0.15% or (1:666) within a month of the surgery as well. Whereas Liposuction as a sole procedure (probably the most common aesthetic operation globally) carries a mortality risk of 1:5000 based on one of the most critical reviews on this issue (Grazer et al. PRS 2000; 105:436-66).