Abstract
Since the section 41 of the National Health Security Act B.E.2545 has been enforced, requests for the
preliminary financial assistance under section 41 were increasing every year, but the civil litigation rate is
undetermined. The main purposes of this descriptive research are to examine the relationship between
preliminary assistance and the rate of civil litigation and to study preventable damage from medical errors.
The author retrospectively reviewed all documents related to sub-committee meeting to decide the
request for preliminary financial assistance between the year 2004 and 2010 and interviewed the relevant
personals. Data were analyzed with frequency, percentage, and Fisher’s Exact Test. The results showed
that 37 cases were included in the study, 28 cases were eligible for payment of preliminary assistance. Two
cases in Lamphun and 43 cases (0.93%) in Thailand filed a civil lawsuit against the Ministry of Public
Health. The rate of civil litigation in cases who did not receive money compared to those received in
Lamphun were not different (p-value = 1), but different (p-value = 0.031) at the national level. In conclusion,
the payment of preliminary assistance in Lamphun had no effect on civil litigation, but the filing rate
significantly reduced at the national level owing to this measure. Health care providers should review the
service process, which the most common causes were in the communication and the referral system, to
prevent any damage that may occur repeatedly in the future.
