Department of Health Professions, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
Department of Health Professions, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
BMJ Open. 2022 Jul 12;12(7):e060023. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-060023.
The aim was to investigate the extent of cauda equina syndrome (CES) litigation and explore the process of medico-legal litigation in relation to physiotherapy in the UK.
A multimethods inquiry that followed on from a previously conducted scoping literature review was undertaken to address the aim. This included freedom of information requests and direct communication with relevant stakeholders and organisations.
A total of 2496 CES claims were found in the UK between 2012 and 2020. 51 of these were attributed to physiotherapists. There was little information available to physiotherapists regarding the legal process of litigation and much of this information was not from a physiotherapist's perspective.
This is the first study that has investigated the extent and process of CES litigation in physiotherapy in the UK. The extent of CES litigation appears to be high considering CES is a rare spinal condition. Furthermore, the extent of CES litigation is suspected to be considerably higher than the data reported in this study due to the issues identified in how CES claims are recorded. Finally, there is no clearly articulated, easily accessible information describing the process and support available for physiotherapists in receipt of a legal claim.
调查马尾综合征（CES）诉讼的程度，并探讨与英国物理治疗相关的医疗法律诉讼程序。
在先前进行的范围文献综述之后，采用了一种多方法研究来解决这一目标。这包括信息自由请求以及与相关利益相关者和组织的直接沟通。
在 2012 年至 2020 年期间，在英国共发现了 2496 例 CES 索赔。其中 51 例归因于物理治疗师。物理治疗师几乎没有关于诉讼法律程序的信息，而且这些信息大多不是从物理治疗师的角度提供的。
这是第一项调查英国物理治疗中 CES 诉讼程度和程序的研究。考虑到 CES 是一种罕见的脊柱疾病，CES 诉讼的程度似乎很高。此外，由于 CES 索赔记录中存在的问题，CES 诉讼的程度可能远远高于本研究报告的数据。最后，没有明确说明的、易于获取的信息描述了收到法律索赔的物理治疗师的过程和支持。
