Claims Defense

EmPRO understands that defending our physicians is our number one priority. If you are ever involved in a malpractice suit, you can rest assured knowing that our claims specialists will work tirelessly to investigate and strategize on your behalf. At EmPRO, we will put together a team of top legal, claims, insurance, and medical experts, including leading experts in bariatric surgery, to bring forth the strongest defense possible on your behalf. EmPRO’s Medical Directors will work with our attorneys in the initial phase of the claims process to ensure that your claim receives the optimal defense strategy.

EmPRO understands that the practice of medicine carries inherent risks to the patient and that an adverse event does not necessarily imply negligence. It is therefore important for bariatric surgeons to select a malpractice carrier who understands that bariatric surgery has inherent risks and that a case should not be settled merely because of a poor outcome.

• Where other malpractice companies settle for business reasons, EmPRO will fight on your behalf.
• EmPRO uses data-analytics to drive strategic planning of claims defense.
• EmPRO’s claims team has a proven track record of success. To learn more, click here.
• EmPRO has a captive medical malpractice law firm, providing in-house legal expertise.

Comprehensive risk management services

EmPRO’s risk management and legal team has decades of experience supporting and advising our physicians on how to best mitigate risk in their practice. EmPRO provides consultation services for both small and large practices.

Access to award-winning education

Our award winning CME and MOC education programs combine the very best risk management and patient safety content into easy to learn, memorable online courses. Our courses are approved by the Medical Society of the State of New York and the New York State Department of Financial Services for the New York State medical malpractice insurance premium discount and excess malpractice insurance program.

Also:

• Stay informed with EmPRO’s legal briefs
• Find specialty-specific risk management content with EmPRO’s original articles, videos, and posts.
• Stay current by following EmPRO’s social media feeds for the latest news, information, and original articles.
• Keep up to date with the latest malpractice trends by attending EmPRO’s webinars.

Physician peer support

No bariatric surgeon wants to have an adverse event or become involved in a malpractice lawsuit. Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely eliminate risk of litigation, no matter how competent a physician may be. At EmPRO, we have trained, knowledgeable, experienced physicians to provide support to you if the need arises. Our physician peer-supporters are available to have a confidential call to discuss an adverse event, litigation, or any frustrations or challenges related to practicing medicine today.

EmPRO offers:

• One-to-one support
• Virtual group peer support
• In-person group peers support

In Focus – Bariatric Surgery Malpractice Claims

Claims related to bariatric surgery are known to be of high severity with median indemnities of $1,237,000 in states without damage cap limits, and plaintiff payouts as high as $183,719,510 have been awarded in bariatric surgery cases. A study in the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery explored the characteristics of bariatric surgery claims. Approximately 65% of claims related to complications in the perioperative period with leading cause being anastomotic leaks (24% of all claims). Because of the high incidence of bariatric surgery claims relating to post-operative complications such as anastomotic leak, it is important for bariatric surgeons and hospitals caring for bariatric surgery patients to have a low threshold for suspecting complications such as leaks as well as a routine procedure for their detection.  Failure to recognized these complications in a timely manner is likely to contribute significantly to the the higher morbidity and mortality associated with bariatric surgeries performed at unaccredited facilities.

Preoperative claim types (14% of claims) such as improper patient selection, operative claim types related to surgical technique (14%) and long-term complications such as failure to manage nutritional deficiencies (5%) are more surgeon dependent and likely to have less relevance to facility accreditation. With shifting trends in types of surgeries performed, bariatric surgery is expected to have shifting risk management characteristics over the coming years.

Table – Procedure morbidity and mortality
Data from 29th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).

References

1. Choudhry AJ, et al. Medical Malpractice in Bariatric Surgery: a Review of 140 Medicolegal Claims. Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery. January 2017, Volume 21, Issue 1, pp 146–154. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27730397
2. Telem DA, et al. The effect of national hospital accreditation in bariatric surgery on perioperative outcomes and long-term mortality. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2015 Jul-Aug;11(4):749-57. doi: 10.1016/j.soard.2014.05.012. Epub 2014 May 17. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26001555

Helpful bariatric surgery resources

• American Society of Bariatric Surgery https://asmbs.org/
• Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases https://www.soard.org/
• Obesity Surgery https://link.springer.com/journal/11695
• Bariatric Surgery Practice and Patient Care https://home.liebertpub.com/publications/bariatric-surgical-practice-and-patient-care/172/overview