Clinical ArticlesLitigation and the lingual nerve*
Section snippets
Materials and methods
All state and federal civil suits from 1987 through 2000 were reviewed. Jury verdict reports are obtained from a computerized database (WESTLAW; West Publishing Co, St Paul, MN). This database is obtained from 14 search sources and reviews verdicts from all state and federal trials from all 50 of the United States. Thirty-three cases involving lingual nerve injury from 12 different states were found. The search obtained data on plaintiffs' age, gender, and occupation; defendants' age, gender,
Results
Thirty-three suits from 12 states included 14 of 33 (42%) from California, 4 of 33 (12%) from Michigan, 3 of 33 (9%) from Washington, and 3 of 33 (9%) from Ohio. Plaintiffs were female in 22 of 33 (67%), and the mean and median age was 34 and 30 years old, respectively. Defendants were dentists (17 of 33, or 52%), oral surgeons (10 of 33, 32%), and otolaryngologists (4 of 33, 13%).
Expert witness specialties were known in 26 cases, and both defendant and plaintiff expert witnesses were of the
Discussion
Although the exact incidence of lingual nerve injury is not known, dysesthsia is rare. In a survey of 103 Fellows of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, 209 lingual nerve dysesthesias occurred in an estimated 367,170 mandibular third molar extractions (0.06%), and 13% of these persisted for more than 1 year.6 Although the lingual split technique is not widely used in the United States, Rood7 and Rud8 found a 5.1% and 1%, respectively, incidence of injury to the lingual
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J Oral Maxillofac Surg
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The relationship of the lingual nerve to the mandibular third molar region: An anatomic study
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Causes of breast cancer malpractice litigation: A 20-year civil court review
Arch Surg
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Medicolegal analysis of errors in diagnosis and treatment of surgical endocrine disease
Surgery
Cited by (36)
Novel use of a piezo electric device for retrieval of a third molar root from the floor of the mouth: A case report
2023, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery CasesPatients understanding of terminology commonly used during combined orthodontic-orthognathic treatment
2021, SurgeonCitation Excerpt :Informed consent surrounding nerve injury is a significant issue. A review of legal cases concerning lingual nerve injuries secondary to surgical procedures in the U.S. demonstrated an alleged lack of informed consent in 52% of cases, emphasising the importance of doctor-patient communication.14 Another issue is that whilst patients may understand specific terms at the time of consent through explanation by the practitioner, retention of this information can be highly variable.
Medicolegal Considerations Involving Iatrogenic Lingual Nerve Damage
2018, Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial SurgeryCitation Excerpt :Because iatrogenic LND more frequently occurs during oral, maxillofacial, and otorhinolaryngological surgery and at various stages of these surgical procedures but also during laryngoscopy, orotracheal intubation, and regional anesthesia at the lingula,2-4 from a medicolegal point of view, it is essential to ascertain the exact cause of LND because, during the same surgery, several causal factors and different health care providers may determine it, each with different profiles of professional liability. Actually, a certain postoperative identification of LND etiopathogenesis is often very difficult because it can be hard to show at what time and due to which mechanism damage was caused during each surgical procedure, even considering that laryngoscopy and orotracheal intubation, both performed by the anesthetist in the case of general anesthesia, can determine LND and that, in some circumstances, more than 1 surgical procedure can be performed by more than 1 surgeon in the same operating session.1-3,5,7,9,96,97 In the evaluation of the professional liability of each health professional involved, not only should his or her respective medical conduct be classified as a technical error but also the causal value of that error should be established, both verifying the causal link between the error and the damage and applying any other possible criteria such as chronology, topography, event continuity, and other causes of exclusion.87
Prevention of Lingual Nerve Injury in Third Molar Surgery: Literature Review
2017, Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial SurgeryUse of Fibrin Glue as an Adjunct in the Repair of Lingual Nerve Injury: Case Report
2016, Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial SurgeryMedical Malpractice: Ear, Nose, and Throat Surgery
2015, Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine: Second Edition
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Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Lydiatt: 981225 Nebraska Medical Center, Department of Otolaryngology, Omaha, NE 68198-1225; e-mail: [email protected]