To understand the legal challenges patients with pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) confront, it was necessary to research the litigation literature in the area.
PG patients were personally involved in all disability and medical liability claims. Direct data extraction from Casetext and Lexis Nexis was used. The entire collection of cases dates from September 1965 to December 2020. It produced 32 cases, of which 18 were disregarded (n = 14) because they failed to mention the plaintiff’s PG diagnosis.
The review identified a total of 6 medical liability cases where reported adverse health outcomes included prolonged suffering in 2 of the 6 cases, unnecessary treatments or procedures in two of the six cases, disease exacerbation in one of the 6 cases, and permanent scarring in one of the 6 cases. Despite this, only one of the 2 plaintiffs who won their lawsuit received any financial compensation. Similar to this, only 2 of the 8 disability applications under evaluation led to the instant awarding of compensation; the other 4 were found in the plaintiffs’ favor. Following the lack of necessary care, 50% of medical liability lawsuits happened in prisons.
The results showed that populations that were jailed required access to specialized care. Cases that took place in a hospital environment also highlighted the significance of programs like telemedicine to enhance access to care while minimizing costs effectively. Furthermore, PG had been acknowledged in disability claims as a serious impairment even when patients had their claims rejected because they were thought capable of doing other jobs.
Reference: journals.lww.com/aswcjournal/Abstract/2022/11000/Characterization_of_Legal_Claims_Involving.6.aspx
