Analytical investigation of ophthalmology complaints referred to legal medicine organization of tehran, Iran

Today, despite the efforts of the medical community and health staff, the rate of dissatisfaction and complaints among patients is increasing and this highlights the importance of evaluating its related factors. The aim of this study was to analytically investigate complaints against ophthalmologists which were referred to the Legal Medicine Organization of Iran in Tehran during 2017-2019.

In this cross-sectional (analytical-descriptive) study, the demographic data of patients and physicians including age, gender, marital status and academic degree, type of treatment measures leading to complaints, last decision of the medical commission, characteristics of protesting of patients and vote of revision commissions for all the complaints of ophthalmology were recorded and analyzed.

During 3 years, 176 complaints were recorded in the field of ophthalmology. Of these, 90(51.1%) complaints were from medical interventions which took place in university or government hospitals and clinics. Also, 27(15.3%) cases of malpractice were reported, among which negligent was the most common type, with 22 cases (81.5%). The highest number of complaints was for cataract surgery and the most frequent treatments with malpractice of the physicians were cornea transplantation. Although the most protests to the first decision were from the patients, the effectiveness of physicians’ protest was significantly higher (P<0.001).

Nowadays, with advances in treatment methods and technologies in ophthalmology and enhancement in the knowledge of patients about their rights, their expectations from medical staff have changed. The findings of the present study suggest that due to the rise in the number of complaints in ophthalmological treatment while a decrease in malpractice rate, applying intervention actions such as good communication between physicians and patients and patient’s right perception of treatment and possible side effects can lead to less number of complaints. In addition, due to different opinions in consecutive commissions, utilizing a single approach based on new information and evidence seems necessary.