Mistakes in the healthcare field often result in misdiagnoses that can delay essential medical treatment, allowing a condition to worsen substantially. With our decades of experience helping victims of medical malpractice, we know that many times, the mistakes of this type often involve the radiology process. Although every case handled by a Montana delayed diagnosis lawyer is unique, we thought it might be helpful to review some of the most common errors that occur in radiology to give you some idea of what can happen.
Inadequate Training and Supervision
When a hospital or other facility fails to ensure that its radiology technicians are properly trained or the facility does not adequately supervise the work of radiology technicians, patients can be put at serious risk of harm. Modern imaging equipment is complex and potentially dangerous. Technicians who lack the knowledge or dedication to perform their jobs properly may not follow safety protocols or understand how to operate equipment or interpret images properly. As a result, image quality may not reveal critical information, making it difficult to diagnose potentially life-threatening conditions. Patients can even suffer burns or other injuries when technicians do not know how to set parameters correctly.
Perceptual and Misinterpretation Errors
Diagnostic errors are, unfortunately, all too common. Radiologists frequently fail to perceive abnormalities in images like X-rays. These perceptual errors account for a very high percentage of diagnostic mistakes, possibly because of the difficulty of processing complex visual information when under pressure and time constraints.
Perceptual errors often lead to mistakes on the part of other professionals. For example, if a radiologist fails to recognize a small tumor on a scan, that could lead to an error by the surgeon relying on the radiologist’s report.
Sometimes a radiologist will recognize an abnormality in an image but will misinterpret the cause of the abnormality. This can lead to an incorrect diagnosis and a treatment plan that causes unnecessary trauma to the body while failing to treat the real problem. For instance, a shadow on a patient’s chest x-ray could be diagnosed as a case of pneumonia when, instead, it actually reveals a cancerous tumor. The patient could receive unnecessary treatment for an illness while the cancer continues to grow and spread unchecked.
Mishandling an Incidentaloma
Radiologists perform tests at the direction of a physician who is concerned about a potential condition. Often, a medical imaging scan performed to look for one condition will reveal a completely unexpected and unrelated finding that has caused no symptoms in the patient. These findings are referred to as “incidentalomas.” This could be a tumor or lesion on a pituitary or adrenal gland, but growths or other abnormalities can be found in all parts of the body.
There is frequently an assumption that these incidentalomas are benign because they are asymptomatic, but they can still be functionally active or malignant. If a radiologist fails to properly identify, characterize, or report an incidentaloma, the patient can suffer a severe delay in diagnosis. When a radiologist fails to understand or follow guidelines for management recommendations, a Montana delayed diagnosis lawyer can work to hold the radiologist liable for medical malpractice.
Tech Errors
If imaging equipment is not set up correctly or properly maintained, it may not perform as it should, and the quality of images can be severely compromised, leading to misdiagnosis of serious conditions. For example, if a CT scanner is not calibrated properly, the resolution of the images might be too low for radiologists to detect abnormalities. Poor images can also result when an imaging machine is positioned incorrectly or a patient is not aligned properly to capture images of the area of concern. This can cause a problem to go undiagnosed, allowing it to become worse.
Miscommunication
It is particularly tragic when radiology departments fail to communicate a diagnosis correctly to a physician’s office. With all the advances in medical technology, it is often a simple lack of basic communication skills that causes a patient to suffer due to misdiagnosis and failure to treat a medical condition.
When a Radiology Mistake Causes Unnecessary Suffering, Ragain & Clark is Ready to Fight for Fair Compensation
Hospital and medical practices carry medical malpractice insurance to ensure that patients can receive fair compensation when medical mistakes in radiology or other departments cause injuries. However, insurance companies are skilled at effectively fighting claims.
To successfully recover full compensation for their suffering and other losses, patients need to work with a legal team that has extensive litigation experience and a genuine passion to help. At Ragain & Clark, PC, we have decades of experience standing up to insurance companies to ensure that our clients receive the damages they deserve when medical negligence causes harm.
For a free consultation and evaluation of your medical malpractice case, just call us at 406-651-8888 or contact us online today.
