A $2 million North Carolina medical malpractice settlement involving teleradiology was reached during mediation for a woman who required a below the elbow amputation of her left arm because a teleradiologist misinterpreted her ultrasound images. The parties were able to agree that the teleradiologist’s final report was wrong because it reported the ultrasound images as normal despite the images showing that the woman was developing a blood clot.
The plaintiff’s experts’ opinions were that the teleradiologist was negligent in reporting the results as normal. The defendants nevertheless argued that the delay in diagnosing and treating the woman’s blood clot was not the cause of her amputation, and that the teleradiologist did not intend to send the report but may have pressed the wrong button on his computer that led to the report being erroneously sent.
Underlying Facts
Because she was experiencing pain and numbness in her left arm, the woman went to the emergency department of Iredell Memorial Hospital in Statesville, North Carolina. The attending emergency department physician suspected a potential blood clot was causing her symptoms, and therefore ordered ultrasound images of the woman’s arm. The ultrasound images were transmitted to Direct Radiology, a teleradiology company based in Washington state, for review by a radiologist.
Direct Radiology assigned the ultrasound imaging study to Daniel Baker, M.D., a radiologist in Ohio, for review and a report. Dr. Baker spent less than two minutes reviewing the images before sending a final report that indicated that the study images were normal. The emergency department physician treating the woman relied upon Dr. Baker’s report in deciding to discharge the woman from the emergency department.
Six days later, the woman was sent back to the emergency department due to worsening pain in her left arm. She was subsequently diagnosed with a blood clot in her left arm that was causing her pain and numbness. The woman alleged that the six-day delay in diagnosis and treatment of the blood clot in her left arm required that she undergo an amputation of her left arm below the elbow.
The woman deserves credit for insisting that the settlement not be confidential so that patients may be aware of the risks associated with teleradiology.
The North Carolina medical malpractice lawsuit was captioned Christy Absher Johnson v. Direct Radiology LLC and Daniel Mark Baker, M.D., Case No. 21 CVS 454 filed in the Wilkes County Superior Court in North Carolina.
If you or a loved one may have been harmed as a result of medical malpractice committed by a radiologist or teleradiologist in North Carolina or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a North Carolina medical malpractice lawyer, or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state, who may investigate your radiologist medical negligence claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case against a radiologist, if appropriate.
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