Radiologist Found Liable for Malpractice in Israel for Causing a Patient's Suicide by Sending a "Bad News" Report: Can This Happen in the United States?
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to present an example of a non-U.S. lawsuit in which a radiologist was found negligent in the case of a psychiatric patient who died by suicide after reading a radiology report sent directly to him.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the lawsuit and its outcome do not influence laws in the United States or any country other than the one in which the case was tried, it should stimulate the radiologic community into giving serious thought to the format and manner in which reports of radiologic examinations are communicated to patients.
1 Department of Radiology, Skokie Hospital, 9600 Gross Point Rd, Skokie, IL 60076.|2 Departments of Radiology, Rush University and University of Illinois, Chicago, IL.
Leonard
L
Berlin
3 Department of Radiology, Hadassah Hospital, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
Jacob
J
Sosna
3 Department of Radiology, Hadassah Hospital, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
Dan
D
Halevy
D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D017007:Duty to Warn; D007557:Israel; D016365:Liability, Legal; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D008499:Medical Records / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D033283:Patient Access to Records / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D000072177:Radiologists / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011871:Radiology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013405:Suicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States
bad news radiology reports; malpractice