[Medical risk and iatrogenic injury--"accident reports" from the North German Schlichtungsstelle (expert panel for extrajudicial claims resolution)].

Schlichtungsstellen and Gutachterkommission--expert panels for extrajudicial malpractice claims resolution--are well positioned to provide data on iatrogenic injuries and negligence in medical care, based on the information collected from a great number of panel cases. Within the last 4 years, 2000 through 2003, the Norddeutsche Schlichtungsstelle concluded 10,513 Schlichtungsverfahren (panel proceedings), more than three quarters of them related to the surgical specialties; most of the claims addressed operations and postoperative therapy. In the nonsurgical specialities, the highest proportion of the proceedings had to do with procedures.