Stories about physicians and other healthcare professionals involved in lawsuits—as either a plaintiff or a defendant—or accused of breaking the law. Various legal updates or unusual stories in the news may land here.
South Carolinian Shannon James is suing Roper St. Francis Hospital and her primary care doc after they allegedly failed for three years to order a CT scan to assess an incidental finding.
A federal jury has found the individual guilty of conspiring to steal the imaging manufacturer's proprietary information in a bid to share details with a Chinese competitor.
"Understanding the scope and characteristics of malpractice claims is essential for guiding policy decisions and risk mitigation efforts," experts write in RSNA's Radiology.
The case dates to April 11, 2021, when 41-year-old Ruchi Sharma, living in Iowa City at the time, visited the University of Iowa Health Care ER following a head-on car collision.
John S. Scales, MD, a vascular and interventional specialist with Radiology Associates of Ocala in central Florida, has agreed to the terms, according to the state.
Jennifer Palmer died at age 34 after cancer spread to her bones, with her family subsequently suing a New York radiologist, alleging she missed sings on an MRI.
Reports indicate the doctor frequently changed orders and completed alternate exams or procedures without providing clinical documentation to justify the changes.
The California Franchise Tax Board had charged that the rad and his sole proprietorship could be combined to constitute a "unitary business," subject to state taxation.
Anthem defended the policy in response to the lawsuit, contending patients shouldn’t have to worry about surprise medical bills when visiting in-network hospitals.
About 38% of rads surveyed said they had defended against at least one lawsuit, with such specialists at a higher risk than others in internal medicine.
The technologist, who was diagnosed with aggressive lymphoma in 2023, says she previously took her concerns to leadership, but her claims were not taken seriously.
“Radiologists should exercise caution when implementing...protocoling workflows that bypass independent radiologist review," one expert writes in the American Journal of Roentgenology.
