Retrospective study and clinical thinking on postmortem examination of medical disputes in Quanzhou City in recent ten years

Abstract

Objective To retrospectively study the characteristics of death in medical disputes in Quanzhou in the past ten years, including hospital, age, and cause of death, so as to provide help for autopsy in medical disputes and clinical diagnosis and treatment. Methods Retrospective statistical analysis was applied to the recent ten-years autopsy cases of medical disputes in Quanzhou from the aspects of gender, age, level of medical institution, department, and nature of death. Results Among the 302 autopsies in the past 10 years, 300 were identified the cause of death through examination, 1 died from morphine poisoning, and 1 died due to the violation of taboo in compatibility of traditional Chinese Medicine. The number of autopsy cases decreased from 56 in 2008 to 15 in 2017. In the past ten years, the total number of autopsy cases in third-grade class-A hospitals was 5, mainly in surgery, gynecology and pediatrics. A total of 215 autopsies were performed in below Grade II township hospitals and private clinics, mainly in internal medicine department, while pediatrics, obstetrics, and gynecology were still high-risk departments. Conclusion Because of the limitation of objective conditions and professional ability of medical workers, primary medical institutions have high incidence of medical disputes. Departments of internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics have multiple medical disputes. Autopsy is reliable to identify death causes in medical disputes, helpful to resolve medical disputes, and valuable to provide references for clinicians in their work of diagnosis and treatment. As a result of the gradual popularize of forensic expertise, clinicians should strengthen the basic clinical training and pay attention to their communication with patients and their families, so as to reduce the occurrence of medical disputes. Key words: Medical dispute; Autopsy; Retrospective study; Clinical thinking