A recent study has found diagnostic physicians may face increased risk for medical malpractice claims given the rapid growth of diagnostic testing, according to a news release from SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
Brian D. Gale, MD, MBA, assistant professor of radiology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, and his colleagues note that clinicians have ordered dramatically greater numbers of diagnostic examinations during the past decade. They also cite a study demonstrating that between 1996 and 2003, malpractice payments related to diagnosis increased by approximately 40 percent.
Claims for communication failures are also prevalent, stemming from failure of physicians and patients to receive results; delays in report findings; and lengthy turnaround time. The authors found that the total indemnity payout across all medical specialties for U.S. claims related to the three types of communication failures they studied increased from $21.7 million in 1991 to $91 million in 2010.
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Brian D. Gale, MD, MBA, assistant professor of radiology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, and his colleagues note that clinicians have ordered dramatically greater numbers of diagnostic examinations during the past decade. They also cite a study demonstrating that between 1996 and 2003, malpractice payments related to diagnosis increased by approximately 40 percent.
Claims for communication failures are also prevalent, stemming from failure of physicians and patients to receive results; delays in report findings; and lengthy turnaround time. The authors found that the total indemnity payout across all medical specialties for U.S. claims related to the three types of communication failures they studied increased from $21.7 million in 1991 to $91 million in 2010.
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