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USA Today Examines Missed Heart Attack Diagnoses by ED Physicians

Posted on Oct 26, 2006

USA Today Examines Missed Heart Attack Diagnoses by ED Physicians [Oct 25, 2006] USA Today on Wednesday examined how emergency department physicians often mistakenly discharge patients who have experienced heart attacks. According to a study published in April 2000 in the New England Journal of Medicine, ED physicians miss heart attack diagnoses in one in 50 patients, in part because of the lack of a definitive test for the condition. In addition, over the past six years, studies have found that ED physicians miss 2% of heart attack diagnoses in the U.S., compared with 3% in Canada and 6% in Britain. The exact number of patients who die annually because of missed heart attack diagnoses remains undetermined, but "doctors say the number is high despite advances in diagnostics and refinement of medical protocols," USA Today reports. In addition, missed heart attack diagnoses result in the largest medical malpractice payouts of all conditions, and most settlements for heart attacks involve cases of missed diagnoses, according to Jury Verdict Research, a group that tracks and analyzes national trends in personal injury lawsuits. Joseph Ornato, professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, said, "It is the horns of the dilemma. On one hand, there are limitations to the diagnostic tools, and they are very real limitations. The electrocardiogram is the first screening tool, and it's only going to pick up, on a good day, 70% to 75% of heart attacks." Barry Crevey, a cardiologist, said, "The tests are not perfect. I think the clinician must be super wary of worshipping at the altar of the tests" (Davis, USA Today, 10/25).