Medical arbitration and claims for malpractice related to health service users under 15 years of age during 2011-2015

Background: Claims by health services users are a negative indicator of the care quality. To know the situations that origi-nate them and their consequences are key issues to consider in order to design strategies to improve the quality of health-services. This study analyzes the cases submitted to the National Medical Arbitration Commission with a final arbitration decision during the period 2011-2015, related to health service users younger than 15 years old. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. We analyzed information extracted from the reports with a final arbitration decision in the past 5 years, selecting those where the affected users were younger than 15 years old. Results : A total of 40 case arbitral awards were found, most of them involving pediatric services with a similar number of male and female users and a similar proportion in the extreme age groups, <1 year (32%) and 10-14 years (30%). The main cause of the complaint was related to diagnostic procedures (45%). An average of 8.7 adverse events per case was identified, most of them associated with procedures. Among the damages, there were 12 deaths and 9 permanent disabilities. There was evidence of malpractice in 65% of the cases and the sentence was condemnatory in 60% of the cases. Conclusions: This manuscript shows information in four main sections: sociodemographic characteristics, description of medical care, adverse events and their repercus-sions on health damages, evaluation of the medical act, and conclusions of the arbitration process.