*2.3. Statistical Analysis*

The collected data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 23. Percentages, means, and standard deviations were used for the descriptive analysis. The independent samples *t*-Test was used in the case of variables where there were two independent groups to determine if there were any statistically significant differences between the means of these groups. The Chi-square test was used to test the association between categorical variables.

## **3. Results**

We analyzed 153 complaints directed against 205 medical professionals (physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, and dentists). In 12 cases, the plaintiff also complained about the hospital. Of the people who filed complaints, 82 (53.6%) were male, and 71 (46.4%) were female. Their ages ranged from 0 (new-born) to 90 (M = 37.21, SD = 24.38); however, the analyzed documents did not specify the age of the plaintiffs in 12 cases. Close to half of the patients were deceased (43.8%). Most of the plaintiffs live in urban areas (67.3%), and most of them filed the complaints in Iasi (30.1%) and Galati (28.1%) counties. In more than half of the cases, the plaintiffs were members of the patient's family (in case of deceased or incompetent patients). All the data related to the socio-demographic characteristics of the plaintiffs are presented in Table 1.


**Table 1.** Socio-demographic characteristics of the plaintiffs.

The medical specialties in which most complaints were found were (1) obstetrics and gynecology, with 24 (15.7%) claims against 29 physicians (14.14%), (2) emergency medicine, with 18 (11.8%) claims against 20 physicians (9.75%), (3) general surgery with 16 (10.5%) claims against 20 physicians (9.75%), and (4) orthopedics and traumatology with 12 (7.8%) claims involving 19 physicians (9.26%).

We identified 15 categories of reasons for complaints. Categories, examples of specific reasons for each category and the most involved specialties in each category are shown in Table 2.


**Table 2.** Categories of reasons.


#### **Table 2.** *Cont.*

\* OG—obstetrics and gynecology, OT—orthopedics and traumatology, GC—general surgery, EM—emergency medicine, PS—plastic surgery, OH—oncology and hematology.

We tested the association between the reasons mentioned above and some of the study variables concerning the plaintiff (residence area, gender, if the patient was deceased, if the plaintiff was the patient or a family member, if the patient was hospitalized multiple times, if the patient was a new-born) and we found several statistically significant results. Six of the reasons for complaint (treatment errors, reasons suggested by colleagues, inappropriate communication among team members, administrative reasons, legal reasons, and lack of competence/professionalism) were not associated with any of the aforementioned variables. The other nine had associations with the study variables in various ways as showed below.
