Medical liability in anesthesiology. Greek courts decisions analysis

Introduction: The physician's liability during the performance of the medical act is controlled by the law. Purpose: The purpose of our research was to analyze published court decisions cases concerning malpractice in anesthesiology and the causes of death and injury attributed to anesthesia before and after the safe anesthesia guidelines implementation. Material/Methods: Published court decisions from 1973 to 2020 were searched in the legal information banks. Results: 75 out of 455 court decisions retrieved concerned anesthesiologists or anesthesiologists and surgeons. Thirty-nine (39) decisions concerned convictions of manslaughter of twenty-three (23) patients, seventeen (17) adults and six (6) minors. Fourteen (14) decisions concerned bodily harm and nine (9) concerned compensation for mental pain, bodily harm, or death. Seven (7) decisions were acquittals. The most common causes of negligent homicide were difficult intubation, airway obstruction and encephalopathy. Conclusion: Medicine and law use different methodological tools. Doctors lack knowledge about legal procedures, while judges lack medical knowledge. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary that judicial officers are educated in medical matters and doctors are trained in judicial matters of medical negligence.