Abstract
Introduction: New medical technology brings the potential of lawsuits related to the usage of that
new technology. In recent years the use of point-of-care (POC) ultrasound has increased rapidly
in the emergency department (ED). POC ultrasound creates potential legal risk to an emergency
physician (EP) either using or not using this tool. The aim of this study was to quantify and
characterize reported decisions in lawsuits related to EPs performing POC ultrasound.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of all United States reported state and federal
cases in the Westlaw database. We assessed the full text of reported cases between January 2008
and December 2012. EPs with emergency ultrasound fellowship training reviewed the full text of
each case. Cases were included if an EP was named, the patient encounter was in the emergency
department, the interpretation or failure to perform an ultrasound was a central issue and the
application was within the American College of Emergency Physician (ACEP) ultrasound core
applications. In order to assess deferred risk, cases that involved ultrasound examinations that could
have been performed by an EP but were deferred to radiology were included.
Results: We identified five cases. All reported decisions alleged a failure to perform an ultrasound
study or a failure to perform it in a timely manner. All studies were within the scope of emergency
medicine and were ACEP emergency ultrasound core applications. A majority of cases (n=4)
resulted in a patient death. There were no reported cases of failure to interpret or misdiagnoses.
Conclusion: In a five-year period from January 2008 through December 2012, five malpractice cases involving EPs and ultrasound examinations that are ACEP core emergency ultrasound
applications were documented in the Westlaw database. All cases were related to failure to perform
an ultrasound study or failure to perform a study in a timely manner and none involved failure to
interpret or misdiagnosis when using of POC ultrasound. [West J Emerg Med. 2015;16(1):1–4.]