Criticisms over teleradiologist’s quick CT read convince jury to OK $15.5M malpractice verdict
Criticisms of a teleradiologist’s short window of time spent reading CT images have helped plaintiff attorneys produce a $15.5 million malpractice verdict.
The case dates to May 21, 2018, when 74-year-old David Bochenek fell down the stairs at his daughter’s Georgia home. After a 911 call, he was transported to the Gwinnett Medical Center emergency room where an emergency physician ordered CT exams of the head, spine, chest and abdomen/pelvis.
American board-certified radiologist Thomas J. Bryce, MD—with Coral Springs, Florida-based NightHawk Radiology at the time—performed the late-night preliminary read from Thailand. He purportedly labeled the spine scan as “completely normal for a 74-year-old,” the Daily Report noted on April 4. This led to the emergency physician removing the patient’s neck brace, with Bochenek’s condition deteriorating rapidly, leading to his eventual quadriplegia.
His estate sued in September 2020, resulting in a March 24 jury ruling in favor of the family. Plaintiff attorney Daniel Moriarty highlighted Dr. Bryce’s abbreviated time spent assessing the head and spine images.
"The audit showed that the teleradiologist read two of the CTs in about five minutes," Moriarty told the news outlet. "A piece of medical literature—used to cross the defendant in our case in chief—showed that it takes the average radiologist, in New Zealand where the study was [conducted], longer than 15 minutes to read both of those scans."
Bochenek remained without the use of his four limbs for the last two and a half years of his life before dying in January 2021. Previous case law in Georgia had required that a radiologist or other physician must be physically present in the ER for gross negligence to apply. However, a July 2024 appellate court ruling related to the Georgia ER statute found that “it did not matter where a person is located when they provide emergency medical care to a patient located in the emergency department,” the report noted.
Bryce’s preliminary report purportedly differed from the emergency radiologist’s final assessment, which highlighted abnormalities in the spine including disc widening and possible fractures. However, defense attorneys noted that the final reviewer was biased in issuing such findings, having already known that Bochenek experienced a bad outcome.
Chip Benton III, who represented the radiology group in the case, said he was “disappointed in the jury’s verdict” and assessing next steps including a possible appeal.
The lawsuit mirrors allegations that surfaced in a 2020 suit, in which attorneys accused a radiologist of lax CT reading for spending only seconds looking at medical images. Later that year, the American College of Radiology published guidance on how to respond to this novel malpractice accusation.
Read more and find the complaint and other court documents at Law.com here:
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.