Table 2.
Damaging events, outcomes, and liability for nonspine orthopaedic versus other anesthesia claims*
| Factors | Orthopaedic anesthesia claims (n = 475) Number (%) |
Other claims (n = 1592) Number (%) |
Odds ratio (95% CI) | p value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damaging events (n = 2035) | < 0.001 | |||
| Respiratory events | 94 (20) | 401 (26) | 0.73 (0.57–0.94) | |
| Cardiovascular events | 67 (14) | 240 (15) | 0.90 (0.67–1.21) | |
| Regional block events | 125 (26) | 87 (6) | 6.18 (4.59–8.32) | |
| Surgical events/patient condition | 52 (11) | 194 (12) | 0.87 (0.63–1.20) | |
| Wrong side/location/patient/procedure | 31 (7) | 11 (1) | 10.04 (5.00–20.12) | |
| Other damaging events | 106 (22) | 627 (40) | 0.43 (0.34–0.54) | |
| Patient outcomes | ||||
| Death (9) | 112 (24) | 555 (35) | 0.58 (0.46–0.73) | < 0.001 |
| Any permanent severe injury (6–8) | 116 (24) | 411 (26) | 0.93 (0.73–1.18) | |
| Only temporary or minor injury (0–5) | 247 (52) | 626 (39) | 1.67 (1.36–2.05) | |
| Severe brain damage (6–8) | 56 (12) | 177 (11) | 1.07 (0.78–1.47) | 0.369 |
| Any nerve injury (1–8) | 125 (26) | 230 (14) | 2.12 (1.66–2.71) | < 0.001 |
| Severe permanent nerve injury (6–8) | 47 (10) | 110 (7) | 1.48 (1.03–2.12) | 0.022 |
| Liability characteristics | ||||
| Substandard care (n = 1850) | 175 (41) | 640 (45) | 0.83 (0.67–1.04) | 0.055 |
| Anesthesiologist contributed to patient’s injury (n = 1797) | 333 (81) | 1109 (80) | 1.07 (0.81–1.41) | 0.354 |
| Surgeon contributed to patient’s injury (n = 914) | 86 (45) | 418 (58) | 0.61 (0.44–0.83) | 0.001 |
| Anesthesia payment was made† | 211 (44) | 845 (53) | 0.71 (0.57–0.87) | 0.001 |
| Median payment (2015 USD)† | USD 272,500 | USD 261,360 | NA | 0.523 |
| 25% quartile | USD 50,250 | USD 75,200 | ||
| 75% quartile | USD 670,000 | USD 685,000 | ||
*All claim events occurred in the year 2000 or later; N = 2067 unless noted otherwise; claims with missing data excluded; p values by chi square, Fisher’s exact test, and Mann-Whitney U-test (payment amount); †claims paid and median payments include payments by anesthesiologist and anesthesiologist’s corporation; CI = confidence interval; NA = not applicable.