High Expectations for Mammography At Heart of Many Breast Cancer Malpractice Cases

Extract

Insurance claims made on behalf of neurologically impaired newborns have long been notorious for causing the greatest financial grief for American medical liability insurers. Less known is that claims generated when screening mammography misses a breast cancer—thus presumably delaying its diagnosis and treatment—are consistently in second place.

Part of the reason is that the growth of screening mammography has been so phenomenal since its infancy in the 1960s that there are now more than 31 million of these examinations performed each year in the United States. Whereas this U.S. Food and Drug Administration statistic speaks to the success of many professional and advocacy groups in popularizing mammography, the most frequent defendants in breast cancer malpractice suits are the radiologists that analyze mammograms, according to the Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA).

Also telling is another finding from the PIAA: 41% of breast cancer-related malpractice claims have been decided in the plaintiff’s favor. This is a far higher rate than the 29% paid out for medical malpractice claims as a whole, and it has left some radiologists faced with staggering increases in the cost of their liability insurance. In other words, despite the fact that the sums awarded to breast cancer plaintiffs have tended to be relatively modest as medical claims go—typically less than $500,000, the PIAA reported—they turn out to be expensive in the aggregate.