Page 21 - 2022 Risk Basics - Radiology

SVMIC Risk Basics: Radiology

metastatic poorly differential ductile breast carcinoma. The cancer
had widely metastasized to multiple organ systems, and the patient

died less than a year later.

There was more than an eight-month delay in treatment of this
patient from the time of her initial mammogram until she was

biopsied. There’s little doubt that there was flawed communication

between the radiologist’s office and the PCP’s office. The radiologist
contended that his office sent a copy of the mammogram/letter to
the PCP who should have informed the patient of the condition

and the need for immediate follow-up.

Unfortunately, for the radiologist, the PCP and the patient

maintained that they never received the mammogram or the report.
This created a conflict between the PCP and the radiologist.

While it was the radiologist’s office’s routine to keep a fax
confirmation, an inspection of the radiologist‘s office could not find

a fax confirmation showing that the report had been sent to the
PCP. Although the radiologist and his staff were adamant that the

information was sent to the PCP, they had no fax confirmation or
log sheets confirming the transmission, which they should have

had. Moreover, the staff’s stories on what their routine practice for
communicating mammography results kept changing, which was

troublesome for the defense. The case was eventually settled.

Knowing that many referring providers never read radiology reports may

encourage radiologists to be more proactive in verbally communicating

non-emergent, but important, clinical findings. Even with today’s
advanced electronic communication, this is often easier said than done.
It can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to personally speak to all

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