Maltreated and misdiagnosed finger fractures: a malpractice claim analysis from the Swedish national patient insurance register 2011–2021

Finger fractures affect people of all ages and can lead to significant socioeconomic and medical invalidity. Maltreated fractures mainly occur in emergency care (due to malunion after immobilization) and specialist care (due to malunion after surgery). Misdiagnosed fractures were more common in primary care. A suggestion for claims prevention would be improved physician education, updated guidelines regarding the use of X-rays, seeking specialist opinions in uncertain cases, evaluating surgical technique, and optimizing postoperative care could probably help reduce the number of these injuries.