Question

A pathologist is a specialized M.D. whose job includes examining tissues and fluids at the cellular level to determine whether they are diseased. One of the most critical applications of this skill is determining from a biopsy whether a patient has cancer (a malignancy). A missed diagnosis of cancer (false negative) can mean the failure to treat cancer at an earlier stage when it is more correctable. This mistake is increasingly harmful as more and more cancers are being successfully treated, but only if detected at as early a stage as possible. You have been approached by "Dox in a Box," a large partnership of general practitioner physicians that practice together in the same office. They intend to contract with an IPA (independent practice association) form of HMO to provide a broad array of primary care medical services in exchange for a "capitation" form of payment ($X per subscriber). The HMO will package these services with other, more specialized or high-tech services, and sell them as comprehensive managed care insurance. One goal of the HMO is to keep as many specialized services at the general practitioner level as possible, in order to hold down costs. This means Dox in a Box's bid to the HMO will be more attractive if it can promise to include the services of a pathologist. Dox in a Box currently does not have a pathologist in its group. It is concerned about the liability risks that it will incur as the result of employing one. It is aware that the law generally holds both the partnership as an entity, and partners as individuals, vicariously responsible for the negligence of the other partners or the partnership's employees. Your assignment is to write a legal analysis describing the extent of liability risk for pathology services and possible ways to minimize it. Include the following in your discussion: (a) What standard of care would a pathologist be held to, and is there any heightened liability exposure on account of the risk of missed cancer diagnoses? (b) What techniques are available for the group to set a liability barrier between itself and the mistakes of a pathologist? How successful are these techniques likely to be under various theories of institutional liability?

Answer 1

a.standard of care for a pathologist is to  provide more effective testing with consistent, high-quality results, and expert interpretations.. if missed cancer diagnosed means its  failure to treat cancer at an earlier stage when it is more correctable

b. if errors occurs based on IPA they need to compensate with payment by the pathologists, liability management that encourage identifying and learning from near misses..Negligence will compensate for behavior that falls below a standard of reasonable care..