[Patient insurance in preventive activities. Wealth of injury material demonstrates risks of complications].

The patient insurance system in Sweden has manifest advantages where the mapping out of complications to medical treatment is concerned. The insurance data base contains a wealth of information which can be used for preventive purposes--not only overall statistics, but also patients' records and expert opinions in damage cases. During the 20 years since patient insurance was introduced, cases of special fundamental interest have been published, injury statistics have reported to clinics and departments, and certain issues have undergone special scrutiny--e.g. neural damage during surgery, infections arising from cataract surgery, bile duct injuries, injuries at delivery and damage resulting from physiotherapy.