HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Google Scholar Articles by Woollard, M. Articles by Wieteska, S. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Woollard, M. Articles by Wieteska, S. Topic Collections Relevant Article

Training for prehospital obstetric emergencies

¹ Pre-hospital, Emergency and Cardiovascular Care Applied Research Group, Coventry University, Coventry, UK
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sunderland Royal Hospital, Sunderland, UK
⁴ Advanced Life Support Group, Manchester, UK

Correspondence to:
Professor M Woollard, Pre-hospital, Emergency and Cardiovascular Care Applied Research Group, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK; Malcolm.woollard@btinternet.com

Accepted 28 March 2008

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In this edition of the EMJ (see page 457) Dobbie and Cooke¹ review the most common causes of litigation against UK ambulance services. They conclude that the key clinical areas to be addressed are obstetric care, spinal injury assessment and decision-making regarding non-conveyance to hospital. As with hospital practice, prehospital obstetric incidents resulting in litigation made up a significant proportion of the more costly claims. In the period from December 1995 to April 2005 there were 13 obstetric cases out of the total 272 claims (4.8%). However, the average value of the obstetric cases was £815 000. For all claims, regardless of cause, there were 24 between £100 000 and £1 million and 17 valued at more than £1 million. Of the latter, four were obstetric cases, based on either an alleged failure to identify and manage a problem or lack of appropriate equipment for the treatment of . . . [Full text of this article]

Relevant Article

A descriptive review and discussion of litigation claims against ambulance services

A E Dobbie and M W Cooke
Emerg. Med. J. 2008 25: 455-458. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]