Patient injured during imaging exam can move forward with lawsuit against rad technologist, judge rules

A New Jersey judge recently gave the OK for a patient to move forward with legal claims against a radiologic technologist for injuries he sustained during a medical imaging exam.

In a Jan. 27 opinion, Appellate Division Judge Rose said that the plaintiff did not require an affidavit of merit (expert statement giving a lawsuit legal standing) to move forward with the case because radiologic technologists are not included as a "licensed person" under the state’s Affidavit of Merit Statute, eliminating the need for such documentation in this vicarious liability lawsuit.

This reverses the Law Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey’s previous dismissal which ruled that the patient did require an expert statement to move forward.

During a radiology exam at Lourdes Medical Center, an unidentified tech asked the patient to “hold weights contrary to the ordering physician’s instructions,” according to a blog posted by Bruce D. Greenberg, a partner of Lite DePalma Greenberg & Afanador. As a result, the patient suffered injuries that later required shoulder surgery.

The plaintiff originally said he would move forward with additional complaints, but then proceeded only with a vicarious liability claim against the technologist.

“Thus, what mattered was whether the technician, the source of any liability of the hospital, was a ‘licensed person’ as to whom an AOM was required. Everyone agreed that the statute did not include such technicians among ‘licensed person[s],’” according to the Jan. 27 post.

Read more at the link below.