Medical Malpractice in Sinonasal Disease: An Analysis of Litigation over the Last Ten Years

Objectives:(1) Review past literature on medical malpractice in rhinology and sinonasal disease in the Unites States of America. (2) Analyze otolaryngology malpractice litigation related to sinonasal disease in the last 10 years. (3) Discuss ways to prevent future malpractice litigation in this area of otolaryngology.Methods:The study is a case series with review of court records pertaining to litigation of otolaryngologic treatment of sinonasal disease using the Westlaw and Lexis Nexis legal databases. The phrase medical malpractice was searched with terms related to sinonasal disease involving court cases in the last 10 years, yielding 26 cases. The cases were analyzed for pertinent data regarding plaintiffs, presenting complaint, practice setting, type of malpractice, resulting injury, result of verdict, and amount of reward or settlement.Results:Chronic sinusitis was the most common presenting symptom. Many cases included multiple types of alleged malpractice with the most common being negligent techn...