In a cross-sectional study of malpractice and medical liability claims for cutaneous energy-based device procedures, the most litigated health professionals were plastic surgeons, and the most commonly affected anatomical sites were the face, head, and/or neck.
Stratman, a dermatology resident at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, and colleagues queried the LexisNexis database from 1985 to September 30, 2023, for all state, federal, and appellate cases that included the terms"negligence" or"malpractice" and"skin" and"laser.
In other findings, plastic surgeons were the most litigated healthcare professionals , while 39 of the overall cases involved nonphysician operators , 32 involved a physician operator, and four cases did not name a device operator. The most common procedure performed in the included cases was. Complications from energy-based devices included burns, scarring, and pigmentation changes.