(1)
Department of Radiology, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
Abstract
The specter of malpractice action remains a matter of concern for the specialty of radiology in general and for individual practitioners in particular. Allegations of breast disease misdiagnosis remain the most common cause of claims against all physicians in any specialty, with the radiologist often the only defendant. Other common initiators of malpractice suits include a variety of errors of diagnosis, defects in communication of findings, and procedural complications. The details on the frequency of suits and their distribution by state, gender, and age of radiologist have not been subject to extensive analysis involving a large cohort. Moreover, responses by radiologists often involve retrospective comments which have tended to emphasize the opinions of those who have at least once been sued or have been the subject of a claim that never becomes a formal tort action.
The specter of malpractice action remains a matter of concern for the specialty of radiology in general and for individual practitioners in particular. Allegations of breast disease misdiagnosis remain the most common cause of claims against all physicians in any specialty, with the radiologist often the only defendant. Other common initiators of malpractice suits include a variety of errors of diagnosis, defects in communication of findings, and procedural complications. The details on the frequency of suits and their distribution by state, gender, and age of radiologist have not been subject to extensive analysis involving a large cohort. Moreover, responses by radiologists often involve retrospective comments which have tended to emphasize the opinions of those who have at least once been sued or have been the subject of a claim that never becomes a formal tort action.
For example, a 2004 American College of Radiology Malpractice Survey attempted to describe radiologists’ experiences and concerns with respect to the medicolegal climate. This study found that 58 % of respondents had been defendants in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Many of the observations concerned the subjective experiences and attitudes of the radiologists they surveyed. However, of the 17,000 radiologists sent a link to the survey, only 9 % responded. The authors noted that those who responded were likely to have a history of a lawsuit and to feel more strongly about malpractice issues than radiologists in general.
Thus, the tendency of such studies is to highlight concerns about malpractice and perhaps exaggerate its frequency. To get a balanced view, one would need a large sample of radiologists to include the demographic characteristics of those who have and have not been sued. It would be helpful to determine the frequency of suits, their distinction by state, gender, and age of radiologist, and also to chart the percentage of claims that result in a settlement or judgment against the defendant radiologists as well as their distribution according to the same parameters. Such a study would require the recording of pertinent statistics independent of the radiologists’ opinions about the circumstances of such impositions.
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