title: Investigation on legal problems encountered by emergency medicine physicians in Turkey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medicine is a profession that carries certain risks. One risky area of practice is the emergency department. Emergency physicians diagnose and treat a high volume of patients, and are also responsible for preparing reports for forensic cases. In this study, we aim to investigate emergency physicians' legal-administrative problems and reveal their level of understanding on forensic cases.
  
  
  METHODS
  An electronic questionnaire form was prepared after the approval of an ethical committee. This form was sent to the residents, specialists and academicians of emergency medicine by e-mail. The physicians were asked to fill out the form online. All the gathered data was analyzed. Descriptive statistics were presented as frequency percentages with mean and standard deviation. Chi-square tests were used to compare the groups. Correlation between number of complaint cases and age, sex, career, institution, and duration of service in emergency department were investigated. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  294 physicians participated in the questionnaire. According to the questionnaire, 170 of the physicians were reported to the patient communication units due to medical malpractice. Mean number of compliant reports was 3.20±3.5. 29 of the physicians received administrative penalties. 42 of the physicians were judged in the court for medical malpractice. 1 physician was fined 5000 Turkish Liras as a result of these judgments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that the number of complaint reports is negatively correlated with duration of service in emergency medicine and age. There was a significant difference between number of complaint reports and career (p<0.05). The physicians' level of awareness on forensic cases was found to be insufficient. Lack of legislation knowledge may be an important cause of complaint reports concerning emergency physicians, who have a high load of patients. Thus, we think that increasing the frequency of post-graduate education sessions and periodical reviews might be beneficial.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Afsin Emre
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Kayipmaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cemil
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kavalci
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Betul
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gulalp
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ummu Gulsum
authors.initials: UG
authors.lastname: Kocalar
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tufan Akin
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Giray
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yesilagac
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Betul Akbuga
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Ozel
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Elif
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Celikel
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Karagun
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians; D014421:Turkey