Abstract
Orthodontics figures as one of the largest community of specialists in Brazil. Unfortunately, numbers are high not only for the professionals but also for the lawsuits against them. The aim of this study was to screen the Brazilian jurisprudence in order to identify the reasons that motivated patients against orthodontists and motivated Judges towards convictions in lawsuits. The sample consisted of 395 lawsuits retrieved from the State Civil Courts of Brazil (n=27). The lawsuits were founded on conflicts between orthodontists and patients. Case-specific legal information were registered, such as patients’ main reason behind the lawsuit and the decision in second instance. Chi-square and relative risk tests were calculated to investigate the influence of research variables towards conviction. Most of the lawsuits were judged in the State of São Paulo (n=151; 38.2%) and were published between 2011 and 2017 (rho: 0.797). The main reasons behind the lawsuits against orthodontists were the dissatisfaction with treatment outcomes (n=143, 36.2%), the occurrence of periodontal disease (n=45, 11.4%) and the need for tooth extractions (n=43, 10.9%). Statistically significant outcomes were detected between convictions in first and second instances and between convictions and the contractual obligation of result (p<0.001). The combination of I) patients’ dissatisfaction and II) judgments under the obligation of results in second instance figure as the main risk factors for the prosecution and conviction of orthodontists.
Highlights
Life in society requires daily attitudes and behavior guided by rules and legislation (RODRIGUES, 2003)
Considering the exclusion criteria, were excluded: the lawsuits that were not established in the Civil Court (n=4.475), the lawsuits the were not related to orthodontics treatments (n=1.770), the lawsuits with duplicates (n=305) and the lawsuits nullified or in which the sentence was other than conviction or acquittance (n=28)
Orthodontic treatment is usually seen as the final step in a group of dental treatments temporarily designed for a patient
Summary
Life in society requires daily attitudes and behavior guided by rules and legislation (RODRIGUES, 2003). According to the Brazilian Law, responsibility is inherent to professional activities (SILVA et al, 2009). In Dentistry, the prosecution of professional attitudes may be founded on specific Laws, such as n. Patients play a more active role in treatment decision (MINERVINO and SOUZA, 2004) and are gradually more aware of their rights (SILVA et al, 2009). This scenario triggered the need for major attention to consumer rights and highlighted the importance of legal knowledge in the clinical practice (PARANHOS et al, 2012). The number of lawsuits founded on dental treatments expanded considerably over the last years (BARBOSA et al, 2010; PARANHOS et al, 2013; ZANIN et al, 2016)
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