Radiologists play an important role in the medical care domain where a timely diagnosis of diseases like cancer remains crucial for proper treatment. If a radiologist misses out on the vital parts of any scan report a patient might have to suffer fatal outcomes for the same.

Many radiologists misinterpret or simply miss out on such vital information while translating imaging reports. As a result, hundreds of cancer patients lose their chance of survival and treatment. Therefore, everyone who has lost a dear one to such negligent practices wishes the radiologists to be removed from their official capacities. However, the law does not see things with such emotions.

While the general public thinks that radiologists missing out on vital scan report indications should not be allowed to practice any longer, some experts believe that the slim error margin should not be a parameter for such extreme moves.

The case of Mark Guilfoyle, a 68 years old radiologist who allegedly misinterpreted scan reports of breast cancer patients on many occasions, has gone through similar controversies.

Mark Guilfoyle used to work as a DO in New Hampshire before the controversies started. At present, he works in Michigan. An elaborate 3000 words long report on Guilfoyle, and his negligent behavior got published in Detroit Free Press.

The USA Today wasted no time and picked up the write-up and distributedit across the corners of the nation. The reporter of the Free Press article, Kirsten Jordan Shamus highlighted a few facts about the already infamous Radiologist to bring forth his carelessness. He noted the following points in the article.

• The medical boards disciplined Guilfoyle in 7 of the 8 states where he had a license to practice.
• Guilfoyle’s name has been embroiled in 13 medical malpractice cases.
• New Hampshire Board of Medicine fined him a staggering $750 and barred him from interpreting mammograms in New Hampshire.
• Guilfoyle had to givea total sum of $4.6 million for settlements to the 11 women whom he failed to diagnose.
• The Michigan state government also fined Guilfoyle $250 for breaching the code of public health in New Hampshire.

The Repercussion Of The Patients

Most patients found the fines and disciplines inadequate for his careless approach. Many thought that a more severe punishment like seizing the medical practice license would have been a more equitable penalty.

Reporter Shamus, in his elaborate depiction of Giulfoyle’s endeavors, mentioned that patients were angry and irritated knowing that the radiologist managed to continue practicing medicine.

A patient from Michigan, who has lost his 34 years old brother due to Guilfoyle’s misinterpretation, remarked that someone ought to have snatched his license immediately after the initial few lawsuits. Guilfoyle missed the signs of brain infection in the CT scan of his brother back in 2002.

However, Guilfoyle refused to give any interview to the Free Press about any of these matters and the outlets of Guilfoyle spoke on his behalf.

Guilfoyle In His Colleague’s Vision

One of the fellow radiologists, Alysse Cohen, who practiced with Guilfoyle, termed these allegations overrated. Cohen did not think that the amount of thrashing Guilfoyle received for missing the signs of infections in some of the scan reports was justifiable for a professional and practice as vulnerable as medicine.

According to a colleague of Guilfoyle, Alysse Cohen, Mammograms are quite challenging to interpret and almost every radiologist misses out on something or the other while reading these scans. Alysse also remarked that if anyone could evaluate 5000 cases of any other radiologist, the error margins would be almost the same – around 3 to 5 percent.

Taking a second opinion for such reports is thus a standard procedure to nullify the chances of missed out observations. Generally, a second opinion reveals things that the first scrutiny misses. According to Cohen, 24 misses in 5500 cases is an acceptable amount of marginal error and does not qualify for such extreme retaliation.

Free Press also contacted the attorney of Guilfoyle, Jason Gregoire who practices in New Hampshire. He clarified that Guilfoyle has legal permission to interpret mammograms in New Hampshire but he has opted to stay away from the subspecialty.

Who Is A Good Radiologist?

Even though the lawyer confirmed that Guilfoyle no longer practices in New Hampshire, the woman who once lost her brother to Guilfoyle’s negligence did not find this information healing.

The article also mentioned that that woman wished that legal actions should have been stringent enough to keep Guilfoyle from practicing medicine. Most readers found this article valuable and remarked that everyone should know about the efficacy of radiologists before consulting one.

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