'Lost Chance of Survival' a Growing Legal Threat for Primary Care Physicians

Failure to diagnose has long been one of the leading causes of malpractice claims against primary care physicians. However, a growing legal threat -- "lost chance of survival" -- is taking failure to diagnose several steps further and creating new and greater liability for doctors. Under traditional malpractice rules, a physician will be held liable only if a jury finds that his or her diagnosis failure was a substantial factor in the patient's injury or death. In an increasing number of states, however, courts have adopted a doctrine called "lost chance of survival." Under this doctrine, a physician can be held liable if his or her failure to diagnose a potentially fatal condition deprived the patient of a significant chance of survival. The growing acceptance of the lost chance doctrine represents a significant threat to primary care physicians, who are often the first line of defense in diagnosing potentially serious conditions. It also provides an alternative means of compensation for malpractice plaintiffs whose conditions should have been diagnosed earlier. (Medical Economics, 9/1)