Medicolegal claims against anaesthetists: a 20 year study.

A total of 222 medicolegal claims involving 160 anaesthetist members of Victoria's largest medical indemnity organization during the period 1980 to 1999 are reported, with 35% of anaesthetists having a claim. There were 49 claims in the first decade and 173 in the second, with 84 related to dental injury being predominant. Other common causes of claims were awareness, epidural anaesthesia, coronial enquiries, nerve palsies, postoperative complications and circulatory arrest. Anaesthetists were joined with surgeons in 17 claims. The average delay between the incident and the resolution of the claim was 11 months for dental claims and 46 months for non-dental ones.