Assessment of cases with medical malpractice claims which's autopsies were performed in Council of Forensic Medicine Izmir Group Chairmanship between 2010-2014

Background. In our study, taking attention to the importance of forensic medicine education of physicians is aimed by assessment of characteristics of cases involving malpractice claims which's autopsies were performed, examining the quality of performed autopsies, also examining the cases which's death certificates were edited by physicians without not making any notification to the authorities although these cases were got a judicial nature. Methods. In the cases which's autopsies were performed between 01.01.2010-31.12.2014 in Council of Forensic Medicine Izmir Group Chairmanship, the characteristics of the cases involving medical malpractice claims and the cases which's death certificates were edited without making any notification to the authorities although they had a judicial nature due to the falling within the scope of medical malpractice then which's graves were opened were assessed. While assessing the autopsy quality of cases involving an allegedly medical malpractice, autopsy reports were evaluated based on the guideline recommended by the European Academy of Legal Medicine (EALM). Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 22.0 programme was used for the statistical analyses. Results. 1.53% (n=146) of 9543 cases were autopsied at Council of Forensic Medicine Izmir Group Chairmanship between 2010 and 2014 due to allegedly medical malpractice. 56.8% (n=83) of these cases were male, and their mean age was 38.30 +/- 26.41. When the departments of physicians that allegedly malpracticed were evaluated, it was found that most commonly reported departments were Emergency Medicine (19,9%), Gynecology and Obstetrics (16.0%). During these five years, 45 cases were autopsied after exhumation and it was found that 37.8% (n=17) of these were not reported to competent authorities even though these were forensic cases. Conclusion. When our study is compared to other similar studies from Turkey, it was seen that there was a remarkable increase in the number of autopsied cases due to allegedly medical malpractice by 4,3 times compared to 10 years ago. We recommend that a guideline for standardizing autopsies, which are the most effective method for enlightening the allegations, is necessary on Turkey's own terms. Also, we believe that physicians' education programs regarding management of forensic cases should be improved.