title: Malpractice suits in chest radiology: an evaluation of the histories of 8265 radiologists.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to present rates of claims, causes of error, percentage of cases resulting in a judgment, and average payments made by radiologists in chest-related malpractice cases in a survey of 8265 radiologists.
  
  
  METHODS
  The malpractice histories of 8265 radiologists were evaluated from the credentialing files of One-Call Medical Inc., a preferred provider organization for computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging in workers' compensation cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 8265 radiologists, 2680 (32.4%) had at least 1 malpractice suit. Of those who were sued, the rate of claims was 55.1 per 1000 person years. The rate of thorax-related suits was 6.6 claims per 1000 radiology practice years (95% confidence interval, 6.0-7.2). There were 496 suits encompassing 48 different causes. Errors in diagnosis comprised 78.0% of the causes. Failure to diagnose lung cancer was by far the most frequent diagnostic error, representing 211 cases or 42.5%. Of the 496 cases, an outcome was known in 417. Sixty-one percent of these were settled in favor of the plaintiff, with a mean payment of $277,230 (95% confidence interval, 226,967-338,614).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Errors in diagnosis, and among them failure to diagnose lung cancer, were by far the most common reasons for initiating a malpractice suit against radiologists related to the thorax and its contents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ.
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Ronak H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Lily
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Valdis M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Lelkes
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Castro
mesh_terms: D003406:Credentialing; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008318:Malpractice / Q000191:economics; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D011871:Radiology / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*