Patterns of malpractice claims and compensation after surgical procedures: a retrospective analysis of 8,901 claims from the Finnish patient insurance registry

Table 1 The number and claims rate (%) of the 20 most frequent surgical procedures

Procedure	Number^a	Claims rate^b (%)
Extracapsular cataract operations using phacoemulsification technique	87,261	0.33
Caesarean section	41,566	0.38
Primary prosthetic replacement of hip joint	39,357	1.82
Excision of tonsils and adenoids	39,229	0.05
Repair of inguinal hernia	39,057	0.29
Operations on gallbladder	32,395	0.54
Operations for impaired function of peripheral nerves	31,784	0.44
Primary prosthetic replacement of knee joint	31,233	1.59
Appendectomy	28,910	0.38
Decompression of spinal cord and nerve roots	25,624	1.60
Surgery of eardrum and middle ear	20,705	0
Total excision of uterus	19,814	1.08
Intraocular operations on vitreous body and retina	19,200	0.52
Fracture surgery of femur	19,006	1.03
Fracture surgery of ankle and foot	18,375	1.21
Partial excision of mammary gland	18,019	0.28
Excision, reconstruction, and fusion of joints of ankle and foot	16,846	1.82
Partial excision of prostate	16,545	0.34
Partial excision of intestine	16,218	1.12
Excision and repair of lesion of skin of head and neck	15,895	0.16

^aTotal number of procedures presented in the reference (BM-OR®) group during the period 2011–2015
^bRespective claims during the period 2011–2015 presented in the Finnish Patient Insurance (PIC) register related to total number of procedures

ISSN: 1754-9493