All medical specialties dealing with patients include an intrinsic risk in exposing them to issues resulting from human errors. Radiology is not spared from this risk since it includes “decision-making under conditions of uncertainty.” In medical imaging, the line between the word “error” and misdiagnosis or discrepancy is very difficult to demarcate, mainly because the diagnostic process is not a binary relation and it is not always possible to establish if a pathological condition is present or not. The error in radiology is strongly related to the diagnostic process; hence, it can be defined as a “diagnostic error” which represents the most common cause of medical malpractice suits against radiologists. In this paper, the authors described the features of errors occurring in radiology, trying to establish their impact and prevalence. Secondly, some data coming from different countries were compared in order to highlight the most frequent causes leading to malpractice lawsuits in radiology and how the phenomenon of malpractice in this field is represented worldwide.

Errors and malpractice lawsuits in radiology: what the radiologist needs to know / Busardo', FRANCESCO PAOLO; Frati, Paola; Santurro, Alessandro; Zaami, Simona; Fineschi, Vittorio. - In: LA RADIOLOGIA MEDICA. - ISSN 1826-6983. - ELETTRONICO. - 120:9(2015), pp. 779-784. [10.1007/s11547-015-0561-x]

Errors and malpractice lawsuits in radiology: what the radiologist needs to know

BUSARDO', FRANCESCO PAOLO
Primo
;
FRATI, PAOLA
Secondo
;
SANTURRO, ALESSANDRO;ZAAMI, Simona
Penultimo
;
FINESCHI, VITTORIO
Ultimo
2015

Abstract

All medical specialties dealing with patients include an intrinsic risk in exposing them to issues resulting from human errors. Radiology is not spared from this risk since it includes “decision-making under conditions of uncertainty.” In medical imaging, the line between the word “error” and misdiagnosis or discrepancy is very difficult to demarcate, mainly because the diagnostic process is not a binary relation and it is not always possible to establish if a pathological condition is present or not. The error in radiology is strongly related to the diagnostic process; hence, it can be defined as a “diagnostic error” which represents the most common cause of medical malpractice suits against radiologists. In this paper, the authors described the features of errors occurring in radiology, trying to establish their impact and prevalence. Secondly, some data coming from different countries were compared in order to highlight the most frequent causes leading to malpractice lawsuits in radiology and how the phenomenon of malpractice in this field is represented worldwide.
2015
radiology; diagnostic error; error disclosure; malpractice lawsuits
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Errors and malpractice lawsuits in radiology: what the radiologist needs to know / Busardo', FRANCESCO PAOLO; Frati, Paola; Santurro, Alessandro; Zaami, Simona; Fineschi, Vittorio. - In: LA RADIOLOGIA MEDICA. - ISSN 1826-6983. - ELETTRONICO. - 120:9(2015), pp. 779-784. [10.1007/s11547-015-0561-x]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/797516
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