Medical malpractice has become such an insistent and important issue that it should now be considered a national debate topic. Everyone with an interest in the provision of medical care has a stake in it. It is a cause of concern, of course, to physicians and lawyers and it is also a topic of conversation engaged in by the public in general and presidential candidates in particular. The fact that we deal with images generated by machines gives us no protection or immunity from assertions of negligent care. In fact, it has been stated that unlike other specialties radiologists produce their own mistakes and store them for eternity or, at least for several years.

Radiologists rank sixth among all specialists in frequency of malpractice suits. It is not just the prospect of a judgment of malpractice that is disconcerting, it is the specter of a putative action i.e., the recording of you and it in the National Practitioner Databank that is unsettling. Moreover, now that such information has become public in some states, including my own in New Jersey, the mere registering of a possible suit is enough to besmirch a reputation because inclusion on such a list can be perceived as a stain on an otherwise spotless record of service and accomplishment. Due process has been forsaken because for many people the allegation itself can be considered as a prima facie assignation of guilt even when no wrongdoing is eventually demonstrated or if the suit is dropped or even if the radiologist is separated from it. Yet what do we know about the likelihood of actions being taken against us? Are there geographical differences between regions or among the states? Are some of the various imaging modalities subject to more malpractice allegations than others? Are there gender differences with respect to the frequency of suits? What about the failure to communicate as a cause of a malpractice action? How about the rules attendant to our obligations or our predilection to suggest additional tests on our reports? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?