Indemnities in obstetrics: A study of the decisions of the Court of Justice of Brazil 2004-2014

Abstract

This article intends to identify the main reasons of damage caused by obstetric medical practice during childbirth, on the decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice of Brazil. The study analyzed 21 decisions judged between 2004 and 2014 related to legal compensations concerning obstetrics. The criteria for the selection of cases was to search the Supreme Court’s website, for decisions containing descriptors such as: "birth", "medical error"; "doctor"; "patient"; "health professional"; "moral damage"; "property damage"; "SUS"; "Liability" and "compensation for medical error". Rio de Janeiro was the state with the largest number of compensation claims (28.6%) appreciated by the court, followed by São Paulo and Minas Gerais with 14.3%. Among the defendants listed on the demands, 38.1% were doctors and hospitals. It was found that 71% of the alleged malpractices that led to these actions occurred during vaginal delivery and 29% of cases correspond to caesarean section. The main cause of damages reported was the delays in performing delivery, followed by trauma. Although research has shown that the cesarean section poses greater risks to the woman and the fetus, the results obtained from the decisions analyzed by the court showed that damages resulting in irreversible sequelae in unborn children were recurrent in natural birth related cases, suggesting that special attention should be given to obstetric medical training as well as to the understanding of the sociocultural aspects that surround medical indication and choice of the type of childbirth method.