Stephen Robert Baker MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Shantie Harkisoon MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To determine the frequency of the causes of malpractice suits among radiologists from all sections of the United States.

The malpractice history of 5497 radiologists who are affiliated with One-Call Medical, a radiology broker for workmen’s compensation cases, was derived from their credential and recredential files. Allegations of malpractice were determined by a report to the National Practitioner Data Bank. Each reported case was accompanied by a short summary of pertinent clinical information.

The records of participating physicians comprising radiologists from 42 states included 51% who had at least one reported instance of a malpractice suit. Forty-five percent involved failure to diagnose, in 11% the radiologist’s role was peripheral to the main concern of the suit, 9% were allegations of complications of therapeutic intervention with imaging, 7% were failure to communicate and less than 1% were instances of contrast reaction or negligence in the radiology department. There was only one case of failure to do an additional imaging test, the pursuit of which is often cited as a prime reason for defensive medicine maneuvers. Among failure to diagnose, the four leading causes were missed fractures, 29%, breast radiology misinterpretation, 24%, failure to diagnose cancer, 15%, and failure to recognize an acute vascular condition, 7%.

Slightly more than 50% of this large cohort of radiologists had a malpractice history. The causes are varied but failure to diagnose is still by far the most common.

Baker, S, Harkisoon, S, The Causes of Malpractice Suits in Radiology: The Contemporary Records of 5300 Radiologists.  Radiological Society of North America 2004 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 28 - December 3, 2004 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2004/4414138.html