First report from the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery closed-claims registry: prevalence, causes, and lessons learned from bariatric surgery medical malpractice claims.

Background: Bariatric surgery has demonstrated sustained improvements in quality. Malpractice closed claims have been offered as a means of assessing quality. Few studies have investigated malpractice closed claims and opportunities for improvement in bariatric surgery.

Objectives: To examine the prevalence and causes of malpractice claims with examination of prospects for quality improvement.

Setting: University hospital, United States; private practice.

Methods: Four national malpractice insurers participated in the closed-claims registry. Data regarding patients, staff, procedures, and hospital status were gathered from closed-claims files. Following data collection, a clinical summary of each closed claim was collected and later assessed by an expert panel on the basis of the following: contributing diagnosis and treatment events; whether complications were potentially preventable by the surgeon; the role of language, fatigue, distraction, workload, or teaching hospital/trainee supervision; communication concerns; and final care determination.

Results: A total of 175 closed claims were collected from index bariatric surgeries within the period from 2006-2014. Of these, 75.9% of surgeons were board certified and 43.3% of the hospitals were accredited for bariatric surgery. Most clinical complications after bariatric surgery that led to malpractice lawsuits were mortality (35.1%) and leaks (17.5%). While they were not the common cause for malpractice suits, bleeding (5.3%), retained foreign body (5.3%), and vascular injury (4.4%) occurred at higher rates than national averages.

Conclusion: Prevalence of malpractice claims regarding bariatric surgery is low. Failure to diagnose, delay in treatment, postoperative care, and communication domain responses indicate future opportunities for improvement.