Risk management in obstetrics and gynaecology

Abstract

When medical negligence claims in the fields of obstetrics and gynaecology are retrospectively analyzed, a distinction must be drawn between the categories of claims most likely to be submitted and those categories most likely to succeed.

Although some types of injury may be difficult to avoid, too many successful claims are found to relate to medical acts and omissions which with due care could have been avoided. A programme of risk management should concentrate on improved communication with patients (including the correct transmission and assimilation of data), better counselling (including the advice and information underlying informed consent), measures to ensure clinical competence (including caution in delegation to juniors and wider use of referral to senior staff) and the enforcement of well-devised rules for the maintenance of patient records.