Medical Liability in Neurosurgery: Greek Courts Decisions Analysis.

AIM: To assess the current situation in Greece regarding medical liability in neurosurgery, the involvement of anaesthetists in court decisions, the impact of court cases and decisions, the time taken to reach a final decision, and the relationship between these issues and judicial results.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

Legal information banks were searched for published court decisions of criminal, civil, administrative and disciplinary content from 1985 to 2021.

RESULTS

A total of 52 court decisions were retrieved: 11 criminal court cases and 10 civil cases, including 7 cases of negligent homicide and 14 of bodily injuries. The duration of litigation in 17 cases was 5.5 years, while in 4 cases the duration was 14.5 years. The average compensation paid was ? 101,701.

CONCLUSION

Neurosurgery has a relatively small number of reported complaints of medical negligence compared to other surgical specialties in Greece. Complications of spinal surgeries represent the majority of court cases. There is a need for immediate judicial?legislative reform of the framework for seeking medical liability of doctors.