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We investigated the files of the Danish Patient Insurance Association for newborns suffering from hypoxic brain injuries. From 1992 to 2004, a total of 127 approved claims concerning peripartum hypoxic injury were registered. Thirty-eight newborns died and the majority of the 89 surviving children suffered major handicaps, primarily cerebral palsy. In 69 of the cases, misinterpretation of or late action in response to an abnormal cardiotocography caused the hypoxic brain injuries. All injuries could potentially have been avoided using established obstetric practice.

We investigated the Danish Patient Insurance Association's files on patients registered as dead after a complication to anaesthesia. In 24 cases the patient's death was considered to result from the anesthetic procedure: six deaths were related to airway or ventilation management, four to central venous catheter placement, four as a result of medication errors, four from infusion pump problems and four after complications from regional blockades. Severe hemorrhage caused one death, and in one case the cause was uncertain. Several of the 24 deaths could potentially have been avoided.

We investigated the Danish Patient Insurance Association files of patients, who were given financial compensation, because of an injury caused by an anaesthetic procedure. In the six-year-period 1996-2002, 374 patients were compensated in total 8.0 million euros for an injury caused by an anaesthetic procedure. Some anaesthetic complications may result in severe disability, whereby the financial compensation to the suffering patients is high. We estimate that approximately 0.2 per 1,000 of all patients receiving anaesthesia may develop complications that entitle them to financial compensation.

We studied deaths following intoxication with dextropropoxyphene (D) and opioids (M) in Denmark 1979-1992 with special reference to the sex, age group, contributory cause of death (secondary diagnosis) and manner of death. Deaths following D increased until 1985 for both sexes, where a total of 46 women and 64 men died. In 1985 the National Board of Health drew public attention to this problem which led to a decrease in these deaths among men, while in women a paradoxical increase in suicides outnumbered a reduction in deaths from intoxication accidents. In 1988 D was assigned to the more restrictive prescription rules of opioids, which further reduced the number of deaths. The reduction of D deaths was followed by a corresponding increase in deaths due to M. However, the demographic characteristics of D and M deaths were not entirely identical: The typical D victim had a history of psychiatric disease or drug/alcohol abuse and committed suicide; the age was 40-59 for women and 20-39 for men. The typical M victim also had a history of psychiatric disease and substance abuse but suicides were less common and the majority occurred in the age group 20-39 in both sexes. Both D and M deaths were rare in persons with a somatic secondary diagnosis. We conclude that these poisonings warrant continued attention, and that a more restrictive prescription practice of D and M to patients at risk is justified.