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Medicolegal Aspects of Life-Threatening Late Hemorrhage after Tonsillectomy; a Report of Three Cases
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H. Ganjali1    , A. Hedjazi1 , H. Attaran * 2 |
1- Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran
2- Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran , hmdattaran@yahoo.com |
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Abstract: (295 Views) |
Aims: Secondary bleeding after tonsillectomy is unavoidable. If it leads to a life-threatening event, it will likely be associated with a malpractice claim against the surgeon. Very few reports have addressed this event from a medicolegal point of view. Therefore, the present report aimed to investigate litigations following secondary post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage leading to death or life-threatening events in three patients.
Patients & Methods: Here, we report three cases of life-threatening secondary post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage referred to the Legal Medicine Organization by the prosecuting attorney to give an expert opinion about any medical negligence.
Findings: Two cases resulted in death and underwent medicolegal autopsy. The third one caused a cardiopulmonary arrest followed by neurological deficits after successful resuscitation. All three were children between 8 and 9 years old, and the time from surgery to post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage was between 30 hours to 13 days. No vascular anomaly or iatrogenic vascular injuries were found at autopsy. A review of the literature revealed that post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage is common and unpreventable
Conclusion: In none of the cases medical malpractice was found as a contributing factor, and the complication was regarded as unpreventable.
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| Keywords: Tonsillectomy [MeSH], Hemorrhage [MeSH], Medical Malpractice [MeSH], Medicolegal Autopsy [MeSH], Life-threatening Event [MeSH] |
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Full-Text [PDF 832 kb]
(76 Downloads)
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Type of Study: case report |
Subject:
General
Received: 2023/05/24 | Accepted: 2023/09/5 | Published: 2023/09/17
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