Section IV: SITUATIONS WHICH MAY GIVE RISE TO ACTIONS FOR
LIABILITY FOR NEGLIGENCE
4-11. THE RADIOLOGIST
a. Increasingly, the radiologist has become an integral member of the health
care team. With an ever more direct involvement in patient care has come an
increasing likelihood of involvement in a malpractice suit as a defendant. Dramatic
advances in technology have widened the horizons of radiology. These rapid
advances, together with the rise in interventional procedures such as angioplasty (the
repair of arteries using a balloon catheter), have contributed to the increased risk of
being named as a defendant.
b. According to the St. Paul Insurance Companies, the largest medical
malpractice carrier in the US, the radiology department ranked number six out of nine
for hospital malpractice suits for the period 1983-1984. (Nursing and patient care areas
ranked number one.)10
c. A survey of the malpractice suits filed against radiologists in Cook County,
Illinois for a 62-month period (Jan 1975-Feb 1980) was conducted by Dr. Leonard
Berlin, an Illinois radiologist. He found that of the 3,200 medical malpractice suits filed
in that 5-year period, five hundred (or nearly 15 percent of all lawsuits) referred to
radiologists or x-ray procedures. The radiology suits fell into five major areas. Missed
diagnoses and complications thereof, accounted for 44 percent of the 500 radiology
cases. The second highest category, failure to x-ray (with the primary care physician
named as defendant, in most cases) represented 19 percent of the radiology cases.
Radiation therapy injuries came next, accounting for 17 percent of the cases. Such
injuries would be, primarily the radiologist's concern, but also the radiographer's
responsibility, in some cases. For example, if a patient being treated for cancerous
tumors incurred bums, it could be the radiologist's fault (if an excessive dosage had
been prescribed). It could the be radiographer's fault if the machine had not been
properly calibrated. It could also be the radiographer's fault if the error involved a failure
to follow the dosage plan, for example, by setting the wrong dial. Slip-and-fall injuries,
which accounted for 7 percent of the cases, involve injuries from slips and falls in or
about the radiology department, being hit by equipment, or suffering rough handling by
radiology personnel. Such mishaps would be primarily the radiographer's concern. And
finally, miscellaneous cases accounted for 4 percent of the cases. Albert Bundy
confirmed Dr. Berlin's results, finding a similar breakdown for radiology department
malpractice suits in the research for his book, Radiology & the Law. Bundy found that
most radiology malpractice lawsuits fell into one of the four nonmiscellaneous
categories outlined by Dr. Berlin.11
d. The radiology department ranked number six out of nine for hospital
malpractice suits for the period 1983-1984.10
MD0067
4-35
Previous Page
