Legal Data Speaks Volumes for Anesthesia
A very important anesthesia safety database consists of the loss data collected by the well-known professional liability insurance company dedicated to our specialty, Preferred Physicians Medical (PPM). Brian J. Thomas, Esq., PPM’s Director of Risk Management, alerts us to the rise in allegations of negligence involving OSA patients in his article Obstructive Sleep Apnea: The Not-So-Silent Killer. The growing number of OSA-related claims is not surprising, given the steady increase in the proportion of obese Americans. Mr. Thomas’s review of the clinical challenges and protective measures presented by patients with OSA is a good lesson on the issues that might determine the outcome of a malpractice claim.
