A radiologist in New Zealand has been told to apologize to a patient’s family for missing a lower back lesion in an x-ray back in 2013. The patient was properly diagnosed months later but died after a difficult recovery from spinal stabilization surgery.
The radiologist, who resigned after missing the lesion, has not been named publicly.
Anthony Hill, New Zealand health and disability commissioner, said the radiologist should apologize to the patient’s husband, according to a report from Radio New Zealand. He also asked that an independent specialist perform a peer review of the radiologist’s work.
When asked what went wrong, the radiologist said he was injured at the time, the private radiology group he worked for was understaffed, and he was interrupted constantly while on the job.
Hill did agree that more radiologists should have been working at the time the x-ray was read.
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Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.