In the Diagnostic Imaging (4/11) “Radblog,” Sage Health Management Solutions President V. Katherine Gray wrote that communication issues contribute to “80 percent of malpractice lawsuits as a causative factor.” Therefore, although imaging report communication has traditionally been the “responsibility of the referring physician,” that direct disclosure “by radiologists is believed by some experts as being an improvement that outweighs the risks.” For example, one of the “foremost experts on radiology malpractice, Dr. Leonard Berlin, explains that ‘a patient who has expectations of being promptly informed of imaging results…will grow frustrated and then angry — not toward the referring physician, but toward the radiologist prompting a call to a malpractice attorney.'” By the radiologist communicating directly, the “radiologist might actually solve the errors in communication.”
This news summary if from the American Association for Justice News Brief of April 12, 2011. From the desk of attorney John R. Badal, who has been a member of that Civil Trial Lawyers national organization for over 30 years and a “Sustaining Member” of that organization for over 19 years. John is also a Sustaining Member of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice. He has served as Chairman of the Civil Litigation Section, Civil Rules Committee, and the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Berks County Bar Association. John is also a certified mediator and arbitrator, and has lectured on medical negligence, auto insurance law, and other areas of trial practice. The team of lawyers at Liever, Hyman & Potter have been fighting for the wrongfully injured for more than 50 years since its founding in 1959.