Malpractice Claims in Bariatric Surgery in Spain

Excerpt

We would like to congratulate Kassir et al. [1] for their thoughtful revision of litigation in bariatric surgery in France. Recent data shows that bariatric surgery represents approximately 25% of all complaints from visceral and digestive surgery in this country [2]. In fact, claims over the last 30 years have increased worldwide. Reported reasons for this increase include elements of a cultural shift in attitudes toward the medical profession and the growth of the legal services industry [3]. Furthermore, the great increase in the number of bariatric surgery procedures in the last decades (about 3.5 times in France in the last years [4]) has increased consequently the number of malpractice claims in this kind of procedures [1, 5]. …