La responsabilità professionale medica nei minori. Uno sguardo medico-legale tra le ragioni della dottrina e quelle del cuore

Introduction. Over the past few decades there has been a steady increase in the number of requests for medical professional liability. Objective. A medico-legal observatory on professional liability cases has been set up in an Italian university hospital, with the aim of monitoring and documenting the characteristics of negligence disputes from a medico-legal point of view. Methods. The general analysis includes over 1450 cases, archived between 2004 and 2019. The subpopulation of cases concerning subjects < 18 years and equal to 184 cases (13% of the total) is then examined. Results. In 60% of cases, the claims related to the medical disciplinary area, 20% of the cases to the surgical area and 12% to the emergency area, 8% related to the service area. In the sample of the general population, the percentage of recognition of responsibility by doctors of the facility is 33%, while in the case of minors it is observed equal to 45%. Discussion. Multiple reasons can be highlighted to explain the phenomenon observed such as the frequent absence of comorbidity in young patients, a particular empathy of the evaluator in ascertaining cases relating to minors and probably regarding the presence of elements of organizational deficiencies that may induce to recognize more responsibility. With regard to the latter hypothesis, further studies will need to be carried out in the future. Conclusion. The data collected can be useful from an educational and didactic point of view for professionals dealing with minors and can benefit from useful references to the correct and compilation of the medical record.