Severe cutaneous adverse reactions to drugs: from patients to the national office for compensation of medical accidents

Abstract

Background: Administrative bodies for compensating medical accidents were created in France in 2002.

Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge patients with severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) have of procedures and to compare the rate of compensation for SCARs for France and for our referral center.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent to 247 patients of our SCARs referral center and 225 patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis from the patient association AMALYSTE. We calculated the rate of compensation for France and our center.

Results: Among the 123 respondents (26%), 28 (23%) knew the compensation procedure; 13 (11%) had received compensation. The Commission of Conciliation and Compensation had received 63 applications for SCARs since 2002 and proposed compensation for 56%. The estimated rate of compensation for France was 2.6% and 2.5% for our referral center (p = 0.9).

Conclusions: The procedure of compensation for SCARs is misunderstood. Better information should be disseminated for patients with threshold disability conditions.