Radiologists often favored in medical malpractice cases, but losses can cost millions
Hoping to help others avoid being the subject of lawsuits in the future, experts recently conducted an analysis of thousands of malpractice cases against radiologists.
It is estimated that up to 50% of radiologists will be named in a medical malpractice case by the time they reach 60. Although this is a known risk in radiology, experts are hopeful that analyzing the details of previous suits against radiologists could help others avoid litigation. This latest review—published in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology—comes at a critical time, as demands for radiology services are expected to continue rising.
“The increasing demands in medical imaging results in radiologists experiencing significantly higher workloads with increasing pressure to provide quicker turnaround times for finalizing diagnostic reads and performing procedures,” Sawyer D. Miller, with Eastern Virginia Medical School, and colleagues note. “Although malpractice lawsuits are unable to be entirely prevented, understanding the characteristics and patterns present may provide valuable information to mitigate litigation risks and reduce the occurrences of similar future errors.”
Miller and colleagues compiled data from every United States malpractice case that named a radiologist as a defendant between 2008 and 2018. Nearly 3,000 cases were initially identified, but the team narrowed their research to include 1,165 lawsuits. The details of each case were examined and categorized, helping the team identify what triggered the suit and the resultant outcome of each case.
The following observations were made:
The majority of cases were filed due to diagnostic errors, which accounted for nearly 83% of the lawsuits. Procedural errors were next in line, at 9.5%, followed by communication errors, at 5.9%, and miscellaneous mistakes at 1.7%.
Mammograms were implicated as the modality for which most errors were made (26.4%), followed by CT (23.3%) and X-ray (18.3%).
Nearly half the cases (44.5%) were settled out of court. The settlement amounts varied widely, ranging from $25,000 to $10,200,000, for an overall average of $1,500,690.
Just under 30% of the cases ruled in favor of radiologists and an additional 14.5% were dismissed completely.
For cases that involved a jury, just 23.4% ruled in favor of plaintiffs, “representing the least likely outcome.” In these cases, plaintiffs were awarded an average of $2,857,203, while the average award in arbitration for the plaintiff was $1,354,497.
Most diagnostic errors occurred in reads of the gastrointestinal system and the genitourinary system (51.9% and 25.9%).
“In cases with weak or borderline evidence of medical negligence, physicians can be expected to routinely win 70%–90% of trial cases,” the authors reassure. “Even in malpractice lawsuits with strong evidence of medical negligence as judged by peer physicians, approximately 50% of cases were ruled in favor of the defendant physicians.”
Although most malpractice suits tend to resolve in radiologists' favor, these cases often are still accompanied by a great deal of stress, uncertainty and financial expenses. Concerns over malpractice cases are valid, but the authors are hopeful that their findings could help ease some of the anxiety related to litigation, in addition to helping better inform policies to prevent diagnostic errors from occurring in the first place.
Learn more about their findings here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.