A second woman has died after receiving a false “all clear” for a mammogram that apparently no radiologist ever read.

This is the case that we’ve mentioned before, involving Perry Hospital in Perry, Georgia. A former radiology technician at the hospital has been accused of entering negative results for 1,289 mammograms that were never read by a radiologist, from January 22, … read more »

A West Virginia man has filed a $2 million wrongful-death lawsuit claiming that his wife died two years ago partly because a hospital lacked radiologists at night and sent CT images to a teleradiologist who misread them.

According to The Northern Virginia Daily newspaper of Strasburg, Virginia, Robert J. Eversole II of Hampshire County, West Virginia, filed the lawsuit against nine … read more »

The lure of radiology (and other medical specialties) may undermine the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a Washington Post article by health policy reporter Sarah Kliff.

The article’s headline is: “Success of health reform hinges on hiring 30,000 primary care doctors by 2015.” Here’s the core of its analysis:
Decades of research have confirmed that more specialists leads to … read more »

An Arizona woman received two contradictory reports about the same mammogram—first that she needed additional tests, then that she didn’t. As an explanation, she said, she was told that New York and Arizona had different guidelines about mammogram interpretation.

She got additional tests anyway. She discovered she had cancer in both breasts. She’s now receiving treatment.

The case became public when the … read more »

A Wisconsin radiologist has lost an appeal of his conviction for injecting a co-worker with powerful painkillers and then lying to the Drug Enforcement Administration about it.

Roger Pellmann, MD, owned and operated the Pellmann Center for Medical Imaging in New Berlin, Wisconsin, and the Pellmann-Evans Vein and Laser Clinic in Germantown, Wisconsin. He was board-certified in radiology, interventional radiology, and … read more »

Two bills requiring that radiologists directly notify women about their breast density after mammograms are rolling quickly through the Virginia Legislature.

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Capital News Service reports that the bills are identical. One originated in the House and the other in the Senate. Each body has approved its own version unanimously. Each bill has moved on to consideration by the … read more »

Of 1,891 physicians surveyed in 2009, one in five—19.9 percent—said they had not fully disclosed an error to a patient in the previous year because they feared a lawsuit.

More than a third said they did not completely agree it was necessary to disclose all serious medical errors to affected patients. Eleven percent said they had told patients a lie in … read more »

A shift from analog to digital equipment will push the overall Chinese X-ray market to the $1.32 billion mark by 2016, predicts the medical research company InMedica.

It says multinational suppliers, not Chinese companies, will reap most of that bonanza.

In a news release promoting a new report about the Chinese market, InMedica says shipments of analog X-ray equipment to China will … read more »

A Central Florida woman sought a mammogram at two different medical facilities. Both said no.

She had a doctor’s order. She had insurance coverage. She’d had a breast ultrasound. She had a family history of breast cancer and a personal history of breast lumps. She’d had a benign breast lump removed the previous year, after an ultrasound and a mammogram.

But she … read more »

A Utah state senator is pushing a bill that would encourage radiologists to include information about breast density in the report that women receive after a mammogram. The bill originally required the inclusion, but it was amended to merely encourage it.

Dense breast tissue may mask tumors on a mammogram and is a risk factor for breast cancer.

Senator Karen Mayne, D-West … read more »