Medico-legal Litigation and its Links with Surgical Anatomy

You do not have to be a member of our profession to be aware of the massive increase in recent years of medico-legal claims against surgeons in this country. Indeed, it seems that every day the newspapers report some new and sensational ‘surgical disaster’. The hard facts speak for themselves. A report from the National Audit Office last year showed that the bill for medical negligence faced by the National Health Service amounted to £2.6 billion, double the amount paid out in 1997. In addition, there was an estimated liability of a further £1.3 billion related to negligent episodes that were likely to have occurred, but for which claims had not yet been received. The report pointed out that the rate of new claims per thousand finished consultant episodes rose by an incredible sevenfold between 1995–6 and 1999–2000.