Ali Nadeem
Royal Victoria Infirmary, Queen Victoria Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 4LP, UK.
BMC Ophthalmol. 2007 Dec 20;7:20. doi: 10.1186/1471-2415-7-20.
To present an overview of the clinical negligence claims for ophthalmology in the National Health Service (NHS) in England from 1995 to 2006. To compare ophthalmic subspecialties with respect to claim numbers and payments.
All the claims on the NHS Litigation Authority database for ophthalmology for the period 1995 to 2006 were analysed. Claims were categorised by ophthalmic subspecialty, and subspecialties were ranked according to numbers of claims, total damages paid, average level of damages and paid:closed ratio (a measure of the likelihood of a claim resulting in payment of damages).
There were 848 claims, 651 of which were closed. 46% of closed claims resulted in payment of damages. The total cost of damages over the period was pound11 million. The mean level of damages was pound37,100. Cataract made up the largest share of claims (31%), paediatric ophthalmology had the highest mean damages ( pound170,000), and claims related to glaucoma were most likely to result in payment of damages (64%).
Clinical negligence claims in ophthalmology in England are infrequent, but most ophthalmologists will face at least one in their career. Ophthalmic subspecialties show marked differences with regard to their litigation profiles. From a medical protection perspective, these results suggest that indemnity premiums should be tailored according to the subspecialty areas an ophthalmologist is involved in.
对1995年至2006年英格兰国民医疗服务体系（NHS）中眼科临床过失索赔情况进行概述。比较眼科各亚专业在索赔数量和赔付方面的情况。
分析了NHS诉讼管理局数据库中1995年至2006年期间所有眼科索赔案例。索赔按眼科亚专业分类，各亚专业根据索赔数量、赔付总额、平均赔付水平以及赔付结案率（衡量索赔导致赔付可能性的指标）进行排名。
共有848起索赔，其中651起已结案。46%的已结案索赔导致了损害赔偿。在此期间损害赔偿的总成本为1100万英镑。平均损害赔偿水平为37100英镑。白内障索赔占比最大（31%），小儿眼科平均损害赔偿最高（170000英镑），与青光眼相关的索赔最有可能导致损害赔偿（64%）。
英格兰眼科临床过失索赔并不常见，但大多数眼科医生在其职业生涯中至少会面临一起。眼科各亚专业在诉讼情况方面存在显著差异。从医疗保障角度来看，这些结果表明应根据眼科医生所涉及的亚专业领域来调整保险费。
