Verdicts on malpractice claims after thyroid surgery: emerging trends and future directions

Abstract

Background: Few investigations have addressed malpractice litigation after thyroid surgery. The purpose of this medico-legal review was to provide a more comprehensive picture of medico-legal trends in thyroid surgery.

Methods: Reviewed were all expert opinions on claims of malpractice after thyroid surgery, commissioned between 1995 and 2010 at 1 tertiary center, and their corresponding verdicts.

Results: Forty-three of 75 malpractice claims involved recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palsy (21 unilateral and 22 bilateral palsies), with a 45% tracheostomy rate for bilateral RLN palsy. Twenty-one claims concerned permanent hypoparathyroidism. Since 2007, intraoperative nerve monitoring (IONM) has become the subject of pleading in 4 of 7 malpractice claims involving unilateral or bilateral RLN palsy. In none of these cases did IONM follow international standards, resulting in 3 plaintiff verdicts.

Conclusion: The growing appreciation that standardized IONM can prevent bilateral RLN palsies after signal loss on the initial side of resection may become increasingly relevant to malpractice litigation.