Surgical And Medical Error Claims In Ethiopia: Trends Observed From 125 Decisions Made By The Federal Ethics Committee For Health Professionals Ethics Review

Figures & data

Table 1 Complaints Submitted To The Federal Health Professionals Ethics Committee Of Ethiopia, January 2011-December 2017 (n=125)

S. No.	Complaint Brought By	Frequency	Percent (%)
1.	Patients/family of the patients	47	37.6
2.	Police/regular courts	42	33.6
3.	AAFMHACA (City’s Regulatory)	16	12.8
4.	Federal Ministry of Health and Regional Health Bureaus	8	6.4
5.	Other Health Professionals	8	6.4
6.	Attorneys	2	1.6
7.	Health facilities	2	1.6

Table 2 Surgical And Medical Error Claims Reviewed In Ethiopia, Final Outcome Of The Incident, January 2011-December 2017 (n=125)

S. No.	Final Outcome Of The Incident	Frequency	Percent (%)
1.	Death	72	57.6
2.	Bodily injury	27	21.6
3.	Others (complaints related to settlement of payment for health services, disability under rating, inappropriate word usage or examination, absence from work and other administrative issues ...)	26	20.8

Figure 1 Surgical and medical error claims reviewed in Ethiopia: type of health facility where the incident happened, January 2011-December 2017 (n=125).

Figure 2 A 10-year increasing trend observed in number of medical error claims in Ethiopia. (Some Regions in Ethiopia established the Committees recently).

Table 3 Surgical And Medical Error Claims Reviewed In Ethiopia, Categories Of Health Profession And Professionals Involved; January 2011-December 2017 (n=146)

S. No.	Profession	Frequency	Percent (%)
1.	Obstetrician and Gynecologist	41	28.1
2.	Nurses	20	13.7
3.	General Surgeons and Urosurgeon (1)	16	10.9
4.	General Practitioner	13	8.9
5.	Anesthetist	10	6.8
6.	Orthopedic Surgeon	8	5.5
7.	Internist	5	3.4
8.	Health Officer	4	2.7
9.	Dermatologist	2	1.4
10.	Pediatrician	2	1.4
11.	Ophthalmologist	3	2.1
12.	Neurosurgeon	3	2.1
13.	Residents in Training	3	2.1
14.	Cataract surgeon	1	0.7
15.	Midwives	5	3.4
16.	Cardiothoracic surgeon	1	0.7
17.	Integrated Emergency Surgical Officer	3	2.1
18.	Forensic Pathologist	1	0.7
19.	Medical Board of a Hospital	1	0.7
20.	Others (Specialty not clearly stated)	4	2.7

Table 4 Surgical And Medical Error Claims Reviewed In Ethiopia: Decisions Of The Investigating Federal Ethics Committee, January 2011-December 2017 (n=125)

S. No.	Decisions Of The Committee	Frequency	Percent (%)
1.	There is actual medical error, or ethical breach was found	27	21.6
2.	No medical error or ethical breach was found	89	71.2
3.	Files sent to other Health Bureaus	4	3.2
4.	Files closed without a clear decision	5	4.0

Figure 3 Surgical and medical error claims reviewed in Ethiopia: type of facility where error or ethical breach actually happened, January 2011-December 2017 (n=27).

Table 5 Surgical And Medical Error Claims Reviewed In Ethiopia: Administrative Measures Taken By EFMHACA, January 2011-December 2017 (n=39)

S. No.	Administrative Measures	Frequency	Percent (%)
1.	Permanent revocation/ Delicensing	4	10.3
2.	Temporary suspension	23	58.9
3.	Warnings (Different Degrees)	7	17.9
4.	Additional Training Prescribed	4	10.3
5.	Prohibition from some services	1	2.6