Table 3. Alleged liability for treatment-related issues at each phase of surgery.
| Alleged liability for treatment-related issues at each phase of surgery | No. of cases | Recognition rate, % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total† | Recognition of the court | ||
| Preoperative phase | |||
| Misdiagnosis | 10 | 3 | |
| Not performing FNAC | 5 | 3 | 60.0 |
| Misinterpretation of FNAC result | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Failure to detect cancer | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Others‡ | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Intraoperative phase | |||
| Misdiagnosis | 4 | 2 | |
| Disregard FSE result | 3 | 2 | 66.7 |
| Misinterpretation of FSE result | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Performance error | 19 | 9 | |
| RLN injury | 7 | 5 | 71.4 |
| Bilateral | 3 | 3 | 100.0 |
| Unilateral | 4 | 2 | 50.0 |
| Arterial rupture | 3 | 3 | 100.0 |
| Parathyroid injury | 3 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Negligence in hemostasis | 3 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Sympathetic nerve injury | 1 | 1 | 100.0 |
| Others § | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Postoperative phase | |||
| Improper management | 10 | 3 | |
| Negligence in monitoring and emergency response | 5 | 2 | 40.0 |
| Disregard for the symptoms of nerve injury | 3 | 1 | 33.3 |
| Others¶ | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
†, 10 lawsuit cases had more than 2 allegations, so there are more allegations than cases. ‡, only lesions were resected despite suspected lymph node metastasis. §, accessory nerve injury; negligence in preventing PTE. ¶, negligence in removing drain tube; urgency to discharge with quick removal of drain tube. FNAC, fine-needle aspiration cytology; FSE, frozen section examination; RLN, recurrent laryngeal nerve; PTE, pulmonary thromboembolism.