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Psychiatric Malpractice and ECT: A Review of 1,700 Claims
1Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Convulsive Therapy
|January 1, 1991
Abstract:
A total of 1,700 psychiatric malpractice claims filed from 1984 to 1990 were reviewed. Twenty-two cases involved ECT. Only four cases had complaints that referred to side effects, complications, or appropriateness of ECT. In the remainder, ECT was given in the past and/or the complaint was unrelated to the use of ECT. These data show a low frequency of lawsuits related to the use of ECT. The cost of resolving ECT cases was less than the average of all psychiatric claims. Patient satisfaction with the effectiveness of ECT may explain these findings.