McCool William F, Guidera Mamie, Hakala Sarah, Delaney Erica J
Midwifery Graduate Program, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
J Midwifery Womens Health. 2007 Sep-Oct;52(5):458-64. doi: 10.1016/j.jmwh.2007.03.013.
Professional liability litigation is playing an increasing role in the practice of women's health care in this country. Although the impact of litigation on obstetricians' practices has been widely documented, data on the effect of litigation on midwifery practice are scant. The authors conducted a nationwide Web-based survey of American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) members about the experience of being involved in litigation. The survey was completed by 600 midwives (17.5% response rate). Of those midwives completing the survey, 152 (25.3%) had been named in a lawsuit at least once during their midwifery careers. The litigation cases had been resolved for 114 (75%) of these respondents at the time of the survey. Forty-one (36%) reported being dropped from the case, even though the litigation continued without their involvement. Another 54 individuals (47.4%) were involved in cases that were settled before going to court, and an additional 10 cases (8.8%) were dropped without a settlement. Of the nine lawsuits (7.9%) that went to court, four favored the plaintiff (3.5%) and five (4.4%) favored the defendant. Future surveys are needed to better define the relationship between the practices of midwives and medical malpractice litigation.
在我国，医疗责任诉讼在女性医疗保健实践中发挥着越来越大的作用。尽管诉讼对产科医生执业的影响已有大量记载，但关于诉讼对助产实践影响的数据却很少。作者对美国助产士协会（ACNM）成员开展了一项基于网络的全国性调查，了解她们参与诉讼的经历。600名助产士完成了该调查（回复率为17.5%）。在完成调查的助产士中，有152人（25.3%）在其助产职业生涯中至少被起诉过一次。在调查时，这些受访者中的114人（75%）的诉讼案件已得到解决。41人（36%）报告称自己已被排除在案件之外，尽管诉讼仍在继续且与她们无关。另外54人（47.4%）涉及的案件在开庭前就已和解，还有10起案件（8.8%）未和解就被撤销。在9起（7.9%）进入庭审的诉讼中，4起（3.5%）有利于原告，5起（4.4%）有利于被告。需要开展进一步的调查，以更好地界定助产士执业与医疗事故诉讼之间的关系。
