According to a two-year old report in the Annals of Internal Medicine, physician errors are a factor in about 60% of medical malpractice claims that involved patients allegedly injured because of missed or delayed diagnoses.
For the study, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston reviewed 307 claims from four large malpractice insurers that were closed between 1984 and 2004.
181 of the claims involved diagnostic errors that allegedly injured patients; and ignored the outcomes of the claims.
Although most of the claims involved several factors, the major ones involved physician errors.
The Results
According to the study:
100 claims involved failure to order appropriate diagnostic tests;
81 claims involved failure to establish a plan for appropriate follow-up care;
76 claims involved failure to obtain an adequate H&P or PE;
67 claims involved improper interpretation of diagnostic tests.
Contributing Factors
The main factors that contributed to the physician errors included failures in judgment (79%), memory problems (59%), lack of knowledge (48%), patient-related issues (46%) and patient handoffs from other physicians (20%).
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