[Medicolegal analysis of legal claims in bariatric surgery].

Objectives: To analyse the causes for claims due to alleged malpractice in bariatric surgery and the results of the legal process.

Material And Method: A review was carried out on the case files of claims for damages as a result of bariatric surgery presented to the Professional Liability Department of the Catalonian Medical Colleges Council from 1992 to 2009. The claims rate was calculated using a survey of bariatric surgeons.

[Alleged malpractice claims related to gastrointestinal endoscopy. Analysis of casuistics over 22 years].

We reviewed the records of patients filing alleged malpractice claims related to gastrointestinal endoscopy to the Professional Responsibility Section of the Medical Council of Catalonia from 1987 to 2009 to determine the frequency of medical errors or substandard care in the practice of this procedure and the result of complaints according to whether malpractice might have been involved or not. There were a total of 66 complaints, 46 (70%) after colonoscopy, 12 (18%) after endoscopic retrograde cholangiography and eight (12%) after gastroscopy. In 18 (27%) cases, we considered malpractice to have been probable, due to lack of informed consent in four, delayed treatment of complications in six, substandard sedation in five, misdiagnosis in two and substandard practice in one, which would justify the complaints.

Specific characteristics of sudden death in a mediterranean Spanish population.

Most of the data reported on sudden cardiac death has been from studies of Anglo-Saxon patients. We conducted a study to ascertain the relation between sudden death (SD) and some epidemiologic, clinical, and biochemical parameters and to assess the coronary histopathologic aspects of subjects in a Spanish population who had died suddenly. A total of 204 subjects (86% men), aged 12 to 80 years (mean 54 ± 15), who had died from out-of-hospital natural SD were evaluated.

Contributions of pediatrics in identification of disaster victims.

Introduction: All kinds of disasters have taken place in the world in last years. The challenge of dealing with disasters is not only the concern of disaster planners, but also of health professionals and the health system as a whole, paediatricians and forensic pathologists included.

Objective: To analyze the difficulties of application of both the positive and the presumptive criteria in the disaster identification of minor's deaths and the possible collaboration between both specialties.