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Over 4,000 Heart Tests Went Unread By Harlem Hospital
By
Jaya Saxena
Published May 26, 2010
Modified May 26, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published May 26, 2010
Modified May 26, 2010
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At least one doctor has been fired after officials discovered that 4,000 echocardiogram tests were never read by doctors making a diagnosis at Harlem Hospital. The tests span about three years, and the results had been stored on a hospital computer and essentially forgotten. Reassuring!
The hospital's system flags any tests that come back abnormal, but it seems that any test that isn't flagged never even gets looked at. New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation president Alan D. Aviles said in a statement, “While the process the doctors followed may have alerted cardiologists to those echocardiograms that were most likely to be abnormal, the failure to read the echocardiograms in a timely manner is inexcusable and may have placed patients at risk."
Doctors are currently going through all the unread tests, and all 1,500 that have been checked so far have come back normal. The computer flagging system is unique to Harlem Hospital, but affiliated Columbia University is now requiring that all echocardiograms are reported directly to physicians within two days. Aviles has fired the clinical director of Harlem Hospital’s department of medicine, demoted the medical director, and sent two other doctors to the Office of Professional Medical Misconduct for investigation. Hospital officials said anyone who received an echocardiogram at Harlem Hospital can conveniently call 311 for their results—just where all your medical information should be stored!
Tagged
echocardiogram
harlem hospital
health care
heart tests
Jaya Saxena
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