The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine is seeking to reduce diagnosis errors that lead to delayed or inappropriate treatments. Diagnosis errors are some of the most common of medical malpractice instances.
Dr. Mark Graber is the founder and president of the society. He has stated that the group is pushing the Institute of Medicine to issue a comprehensive report on diagnosis errors to bring the subject to the attention of medical professionals.
Graber, a Senior Fellow in health care quality and outcomes at RTI International’s research institute, argued that medical professionals need to be made more aware of the negative impact of diagnostic errors. He noted that he encountered numerous diagnostic errors first-hand — many of them his own —
during 20 years working at Northport, New York’s Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
According to Graber, the group is currently focusing on raising awareness. He said that while the group has sought to educate medical professionals, they have been met with apathy. Once stakeholders are engaged, the group hopes to spread solutions, such as the use of “trigger tools” as part of electronic health records to identify patients who are at a high risk of diagnostic errors.
Paul Greenberg is a medical malpractice lawyer in Chicago and malpractice attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.
