Medicolegal Issues in Healthcare and their Contributing Factors: A Scoping Review

Medicolegal issues in healthcare are rising globally, driven by growing patient awareness, heightened expectations and increased access to legal support. Understanding the root causes of these disputes is crucial for improving patient safety and minimising legal risks. This scoping review aimed to identify contributing factors to medicolegal issues in healthcare. The review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage scoping review framework and adhered to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Literature search was conducted in PubMed, EBSCOhost, Scopus and Web of Science, covering publications from January 2018 to April 2024. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 45 out of 360 studies were included and analysed thematically. The most commonly reported causes of medicolegal claims were errors and delays in diagnostic testing (48.9%), communication failures (48.9%), procedural errors (40%), failure to make clinical decisions and judgments (31%) and treatment complications (24%). Other contributing factors included inadequate informed consent, system-level failures and patient-related factors such as noncompliance and comorbidities. Addressing these multifactorial issues requires a comprehensive approach, including enhanced clinical training, improved communication strategies, standardised documentation practices and systemic reforms. These findings offer valuable insights for healthcare leaders and policymakers to reduce medicolegal risks and strengthen the quality and safety of care.