Radiology Malpractice

At Miller & Wagner, we represent people with personal injury or wrongful death claims resulting from the negligence of radiologists in Oregon and Washington. If you need the advice of a medical malpractice attorney who knows how to develop and present claims for radiology errors, contact our office in Portland for a free consultation.

Accurate diagnosis of an injury, illness or tumor often depends on the judgment and skill of radiologists, the medical specialists who work with X-rays, CT scans, MRI scans and ultrasound. Errors in the use of these technologies or the interpretation of the images can mean disaster for the patient whose symptoms are overlooked or misinterpreted as a result.

We work with consulting and teaching radiologists to determine whether our client has a claim for malpractice. Our experts can review the patient’s records and determine whether any errors by the radiologist reflect professional negligence that can support a claim for damages.

Not every mistake by a medical professional amounts to malpractice. Some errors are inherent risks of a given procedure. Other mistakes might be matters of debate within a given medical specialty. Even if your lawyer can prove that a radiology error occurred, it might be hard to prove that it was an important factor in your outcome.

At Miller & Wagner, our objective as trial lawyers is to show through expert testimony that a radiologist’s error violated a standard of practice that is widely accepted among radiologists, and that the mistake played an important causal role in the patient’s serious injury or death.

Examples of the kinds of radiology errors that might give rise to an award of personal injury or wrongful death damages include:

• Communication errors, such as the failure to report radiology findings in a way that a treating physician can understand, or the failure to report them at all
• Negligent failure to spot a small brain lesion in the brain, spine, lung, breasts, or kidney that later grows into a life-threatening tumor
• Mistakes in so-called “interventional radiology,” in which the radiologist performs an invasive procedure, such as angioplasty or thrombolysis, in conjunction with a diagnostic technology

Whether your situation involved a negligent failure to diagnose a medical condition or a mistake in treatment, we can help you determine whether your radiologist can be held accountable for the harm you suffered.