Radiology report question ... do these types of mistakes happen? UPDATE

2»

Comments

  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    westie66 said:

    Radiology Mistakes
    Oh Sophie I'm am so sorry what happened to your mom. That is terrible. I, too, would be tempted, and would probably do it. It happened to a friend's husband, too. It just re-enforces to me that we have to be more vigilent when it comes to scan reports, blood reports, etc. People make mistakes and there don't seem to be many checks in the system. But it is difficult.
    Cheryl

    Just about all my docs look at my scans:
    Even tho my onc schedules them, i usually call radiologist ASAP for quick rundown.When i meet with her and onc, they both go over scan itself with me. My lung doctor goes over the lung part and since i've started seeing a urologist, he too goes over the scan, as does surgeon, so i get five perspectives.....I suppose i could get disc of scans but they won't really mean anything to me; have photo of inside my bladder and now , a year plus later and i don't remember what i'm looking at...Do have written report of my last scan and it can get scary when you read it til it gets explained in words you understand. I'm surprised some of you have oncs who don't go over scans with you....steve
  • jasminsaba
    jasminsaba Member Posts: 157 Member
    UPDATE!!!
    Hi everyone - I hope you had a great weekend. Go GIANTS!!!

    I had promised you an update on mom's radiology report debacle ... just got the report addendum ... scans were reviewed by the radiologist again and the addendum states there is NO evidence metastatic disease witin the abdomen or pelvis on this exam.

    PRAISE GOD. I am so relieved ... everyone has been relishing in the good news since last week but I just needed this confirmation before I could really let loose :-)

    Thanks for your support.
  • smokeyjoe
    smokeyjoe Member Posts: 1,425 Member

    UPDATE!!!
    Hi everyone - I hope you had a great weekend. Go GIANTS!!!

    I had promised you an update on mom's radiology report debacle ... just got the report addendum ... scans were reviewed by the radiologist again and the addendum states there is NO evidence metastatic disease witin the abdomen or pelvis on this exam.

    PRAISE GOD. I am so relieved ... everyone has been relishing in the good news since last week but I just needed this confirmation before I could really let loose :-)

    Thanks for your support.

    Great to hear!!!

    Great to hear!!!
  • z
    z Member Posts: 1,414 Member

    UPDATE!!!
    Hi everyone - I hope you had a great weekend. Go GIANTS!!!

    I had promised you an update on mom's radiology report debacle ... just got the report addendum ... scans were reviewed by the radiologist again and the addendum states there is NO evidence metastatic disease witin the abdomen or pelvis on this exam.

    PRAISE GOD. I am so relieved ... everyone has been relishing in the good news since last week but I just needed this confirmation before I could really let loose :-)

    Thanks for your support.

    Jasminsaba
    Great news for your mom. I hope that dr is more careful with the next report and proof reads it. I wish your mom and your family well. Lori
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member

    UPDATE!!!
    Hi everyone - I hope you had a great weekend. Go GIANTS!!!

    I had promised you an update on mom's radiology report debacle ... just got the report addendum ... scans were reviewed by the radiologist again and the addendum states there is NO evidence metastatic disease witin the abdomen or pelvis on this exam.

    PRAISE GOD. I am so relieved ... everyone has been relishing in the good news since last week but I just needed this confirmation before I could really let loose :-)

    Thanks for your support.

    Great jasmine !
    Congratulations now rest calm you deserve!
  • jasminsaba
    jasminsaba Member Posts: 157 Member
    pepebcn said:

    Great jasmine !
    Congratulations now rest calm you deserve!

    Thank you :-)
    I appreciate your sweet comment.
  • jasminsaba
    jasminsaba Member Posts: 157 Member
    z said:

    Jasminsaba
    Great news for your mom. I hope that dr is more careful with the next report and proof reads it. I wish your mom and your family well. Lori

    Thank you :-)
    I'll be ON her case from here on out ... even more so that usual. I appreciate your well wishes and wish you and yours all the best.
  • jasminsaba
    jasminsaba Member Posts: 157 Member
    smokeyjoe said:

    Great to hear!!!

    Great to hear!!!

    Thank you :-)
    I appreciate it.
  • westie66
    westie66 Member Posts: 642

    Thank you :-)
    I appreciate your sweet comment.

    Radiology Report Mistakes
    Hi: I'm so glad for your mom! That is great news! And I'm so glad you started this discussion thread to wake us all up. We have to be more vigilent! Thanks!
    Cheryl
  • jasminsaba
    jasminsaba Member Posts: 157 Member
    westie66 said:

    Radiology Report Mistakes
    Hi: I'm so glad for your mom! That is great news! And I'm so glad you started this discussion thread to wake us all up. We have to be more vigilent! Thanks!
    Cheryl

    Thank you, Cheryl!
    I am so glad we've got this forum to support each other through this journey. I agree, we have to be more vigilent ... mistakes happen when docs deal with high volumes.
  • TNConsultant
    TNConsultant Member Posts: 1
    If it's true that a radiologist signed off on a report that has a "typo," I would encourage you to report it to all overseeing agencies/hospitals/etc. including the medical group the radiologist belongs to. While other people are so quick to accept this was probably a "typo" due to voice recognition software, I see it very differently. I spent many years working for a large insurance company that provides medical malpractice insurance to physicians. Something like this could cost somebody their life. It happens every single day, and it DOES cost people their lives every single day. While your personal story has a very happy ending, the fact that this physician signed off on such a report is very scary and could have devastating, irreversible consequences. Physicians have a responsibility to NOT make this kind of mistake, voice recognition software or not. I promise you that if the proper complaint procedures are followed, this physician will never again make this "mistake" again (I'm giving him/her the benefit of the doubt; sadly, the reality is that some doctors just don't care).

    Please, don't let this drop just because you heard great news, which I am so grateful for. Take the steps necessary to ensure the next person doesn't experience something similar. For all you know, the next person's report may say that they do not have evidence of cancer when they actually do. I've seen this happen time and time again. It happened to a personal friend of mine last year, and she actually had Stage IV lung cancer. Unfortunately, many doctors (non-radiologists) do not look at the actual images on a scan. Many simply look at a radiology report and move on, so the accuracy of the report is critical with life-and-death consequences .... literally.
  • tanstaafl
    tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member
    a clean miss...
    My wife's initial radiology report failed to note a major cluster of periaortic nodes last year. However, the malignant nodes were showing up on the CEA and CA19-9 trends, where I had data points every ~3 weeks. So I went and got a second reading done independently and found the Easter egg.

    It was time to move fast.