Access Three Complimentary Analyses to Help Reduce Patient Harm and Malpractice Exposure
Each month in 2026, our Malpractice Risk Review will focus on a different medical specialty, providing targeted insights from malpractice claims to support patient safety and risk management efforts.
Understanding malpractice risk in radiology requires examining both how patient harm occurs and why negligence allegations arise. This Malpractice Risk Review brings together three in-depth analyses:
- Contributing factors to patient harm: Identifies the most common driver of radiology claims as clinical judgment errors, including misinterpretation of diagnostic studies, narrow diagnostic focus, and and failure or delay in ordering diagnostic tests.
- Negligence allegations: Analyzes negligence allegations in radiology to help practitioners and staff proactively identify and address risk.
- Case summary for missed diagnosis and communication failures that delayed lung cancer diagnosis: Highlights how failure to inform the cardiologist of a suspected lung mass identified on a chest x-ray delayed a lung cancer diagnosis, allowing metastasis and resulting in the patient’s death.
The guidelines suggested here are not rules, do not constitute legal advice, and do not ensure a successful outcome. The ultimate decision regarding the appropriateness of any treatment must be made by each healthcare provider considering the circumstances of the individual situation and in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction in which the care is rendered.
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